The San Jose Earthquakes are enjoying the best eight-match start in franchise history and coach Bruce Arena doesn’t want to hear any chatter about a letdown.

The destructive Earthquakes (7-1-0, 21 points) have outscored opponents 17-3 and look to inflict more damage when they host Austin FC on Wednesday night.

Austin FC (1-3-4, 7 points) is winless in their past six MLS matches (0-3-3).

“There are no trap games in this league,” Arena told reporters. “Any team can beat you on a given day in this league. We understand that. It’s going to be a difficult game on Wednesday. We played Austin last year and I think we split with them. … It’s going to be a difficult game.”

The teams split two regular-season matches last season while Austin also won a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal matchup. San Jose is 3-2-6 in 11 all-time MLS matches against Austin.

The Earthquakes are fresh off Sunday’s 4-1 pummeling of host Los Angeles FC. Ousseni Bouda posted a brace and has a team-best four goals.

Bouda is in his fifth season with San Jose. He sees a definitive change in this season’s squad after the Quakes missed the playoffs last season.

“I think it’s the culture we set for ourselves this year,” Bouda said. “I think everybody is all bought in. We’re taking it one game at a time. It’s only about eight games in right now, so there’s a lot of games left and we want to stay consistent and continue to get better throughout the season as well.”

Austin certainly would like to collect a much-needed victory. The club led late on Saturday before host Toronto FC tallied in the 88th minute to gain a 3-3 tie.

Austin coach Nico Estevez said one key is making sure his players aren’t intimidated by San Jose.

“You can’t be afraid,” Estevez said. “You have to go and be aggressive and you have to attack them. You have to find their weaknesses that every team has and minimize their strengths.”

Austin is winless in four road matches (0-2-2) but one of those was a 2-2 tie against Inter Miami and Lionel Messi on April 4.

That showing has Austin players feeling they can give the Earthquakes a battle.

“We’ve had good performances and shown we can play against top teams in the league,” forward CJ Fodrey said. “It’s about being confident throughout 90 (minutes) and turning those good performances into results.”

–Field Level Media

Landen Roupp outpitched Yoshinobu Yamamoto, San Francisco got RBI singles from Rafael Devers and Jung Hoo Lee in a three-run first inning, and the Giants held off the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1 in the opener of a three-game series Tuesday night.

Roupp (4-1) allowed just one run on one hit in five innings, then watched five relievers combine for four innings of shutout ball, helping the Giants open a six-game homestand with a win after a 4-5 trip.

Roupp struck out seven and walked five in his first career win over the Dodgers.

Seeking his first-ever victory over the Giants, Yamamoto (2-2) went seven innings, allowing six hits and three runs, all of which scored in the first. He walked two and fanned seven.

Willy Adames got the cold night rolling for San Francisco with an infield single, after which Luis Arraez singled and Matt Chapman walked to load the bases.

Each of the next three batters delivered single runs, with Devers’ single chasing home Adames, Casey Schmitt’s sacrifice fly scoring Arraez, and Lee’s single plating Chapman.

Roupp allowed a two-out single by Hyeseong Kim in the second but no other hits until a wild spate in the fourth. He walked four of the first five batters he faced that inning, including Kim with the bases loaded to force home Teoscar Hernandez.

The right-hander got out of the one-out jam by inducing a double play grounder off the bat of Alex Call.

The Dodgers got the potential tying run on the bases with two outs in the seventh before Erik Miller struck out Kyle Tucker to retain the 3-1 lead.

Ryan Walker worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his second save.

Ryan Borucki, Matt Gage and Keaton Winn also contributed to the three-hitter in the first meeting of the season between the longtime California rivals.

Lee was the only player in the game with multiple hits, a pair of singles. The Giants out-hit the visitors 6-3, with the Dodgers’ Hernandez stroking the game’s only extra-base hit, a double.

–Field Level Media

Logan Cooley scored the go-ahead goal on a rebound with six minutes remaining to give the Utah Mammoth the first playoff win in franchise history, 3-2 over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series on Tuesday in Las Vegas.

Cooley buried a rebound of a Dylan Guenther shot just inside the left post, even the best-of-seven series at one victory apiece. The scene now shifts to Salt Lake City for the next two contests, with Game 3 on Friday.

Guenther had a goal and an assist, Kailer Yamamoto had two assists and MacKenzie Weegar also scored for Utah. Karel Vejmelka made 19 saves, including a close-in shot by Mark Stone from the left side of the net with five seconds left to seal the win.

Stone and Ivan Barbashev each a scored goal and Jack Eichel had two assists for Vegas, which lost for the first time in regulation in 10 games (8-1-1) under coach John Tortorella. Carter Hart finished with 26 saves.

The teams exchanged own goals during the first period, which ended with the score 1-1.

Vegas, which rallied for a 4-2 victory in Game 1, took a 1-0 lead at the 11:40 mark on a power-play goal. Stone’s cross-crease pass for Tomas Hertl near the right post caromed straight into the net off the skate of Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev. It was Stone’s 43rd career playoff goal and his sixth in the past six games dating back to the regular season.

Utah tied it near the end of the period when Weegar’s shot from the right point deflected off the stick of Vegas defenseman Noah Hanifin and then off the pads of Hart into the low slot toward Golden Knights defenseman Rasmus Andersson, who kicked the rebound into the net.

The Mammoth took a 2-1 lead in the second period on a one-timer from the top of the left circle by Guenther off a pass from Yamamoto.

The Golden Knights tied it 62 seconds later. Barbashev intercepted a clearing pass by Sergachev in the neutral zone and then skated in and split a pair of Utah defensemen before roofing a backhand shot into the top far corner for his second goal of the playoffs.

–Field Level Media