Portland Timbers interim coach Jack Cassidy hopes to conclude his tenure the way he began it — with a Cascadia Cup victory against the Seattle Sounders.

Cassidy has gone 2-0-1 in three matches in charge of the Timbers (6-8-3, 21 points) since Phil Neville was relieved of his duties heading into the World Cup break. That includes a 5-1 victory at Seattle two weeks ago.

Saturday night’s match will be held at Portland’s Providence Park.

The Timbers have hired Marti Cifuentes as their permanent coach, and he should have his visa issues completed by the time the club plays again Thursday.

“The players have given me and the staff absolutely everything we’ve asked for,” Cassidy said. “I want to make a real point of that.”

Timbers forward Kevin Kelsy, who had a brace at Seattle and has a team-leading eight goals, missed last weekend’s 2-1 victory against Real Salt Lake with a foot/ankle injury but has been a full participant at practice. Cassidy said he’s hopeful to “have him involved in some capacity.”

Portland will be without forward Felipe Mora, who scored both goals against RSL in his last match with the Timbers before joining Atletico de San Luis of Liga MX. Mora also scored in second-half stoppage time in a 2-2 draw with FC Dallas in the previous outing.

The Timbers announced the signing of former English Premier League striker Vincent Janssen this week, but he’ll be unavailable Saturday pending his P-1 visa.

The Sounders (7-6-3, 24 points) have lost five straight games, tied for the longest losing streak in their MLS history, following a nine-game unbeaten run in league play. They’ve been outscored 12-2 during their funk.

“We haven’t hit the panic button yet,” Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said.

Paul Rothrock leads Seattle with five goals, but the team has scored just 19 overall, with only Atlanta and Kansas City having tallied fewer in the 30-team league.

Sounders All-Star center back Jackson Ragen will miss the match due to a yellow-card accumulation suspension.

Cassidy said he doesn’t expect another lopsided victory.

“I think we’ll get a better version of Seattle. Brian’s an experienced coach knows how to manage those spells very well, so I think we’ve got to be aware it’s gonna look like a different game. … They’re coming off the back end of a bad run of results and are going to want to turn it around.”

–Field Level Media

Pinch hitter Luis Urias snapped a tie with a two-run single in the eighth inning Friday night and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 3-1.

Brandon Valenzuela was 3-for-4 for the Blue Jays in the opener of a three-game series.

Jeff Hoffman (6-7) threw a perfect eighth with two strikeouts to earn the win.

Louis Varland pitched around a single in the ninth to earn his 24th save in 24 opportunities this season.

Nathan Church had two hits and a stolen base for the Cardinals, who started a six-game road trip.

Toronto starter Dylan Cease got out of trouble following a leadoff double in the fourth, but Church’s leadoff single in the fifth led to a run. Church stole second and took third on a groundout. JJ Wetherholt walked with two outs and Jordan Walker looped an RBI single to center.

St. Louis starter Kyle Leahy gave up consecutive two-out singles in the bottom of the fifth before getting Nathan Lukes to fly out and end the threat.

Cease went six innings and allowed one run, three hits and three walks with seven strikeouts.

Toronto tied the score in the sixth when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led off with a double off the wall in left-center and scored on Kazuma Okamoto’s double to the left field corner.

Leahy gave up one run, six hits and one walk with three strikeouts in six innings.

Toronto’s Spencer Miles bounced back for three straight outs after allowing a leadoff single to Church in the seventh.

In the bottom half, Cardinals reliever Justin Bruihl allowed a one-out single to Valenzuela and an infield hit to Andres Gimenez on a chopper that first baseman Alec Burleson fumbled. Peter Strzelecki (0-1) replaced Bruihl and plunked pinch hitter Myles Straw with a pitch to load the bases before Guerrero grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Strzelecki walked George Springer and Daulton Varsho with one out in the home eighth. He was replaced by Gordon Graceffo, who walked Ernie Clement to load the bases. That’s when Urias came through and grounded his two-run single to left.

Toronto’s Jesus Sanchez returned from a sprained right ankle to get the start in left field Friday and Yohendrick Pinango was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo. Sanchez was 0-for-2 before leaving for a pinch hitter.

–Field Level Media

Matt Olson and Michael Harris II hit home runs and Bryce Elder pitched six strong innings, lifting the Atlanta Braves to a 6-2 win over the visiting Washington Nationals on Friday.

Atlanta has won both games in the four-game series and holds a 6-3 lead over the Nationals in the season series. The Braves are on a three-game overall winning streak, while the Nationals have dropped three in a row.

Olson went 2-for-4 with a double and a first-inning solo homer. Harris finished 2-for-4 and put the game away with a three-run shot in the sixth inning.

Elder (7-6) allowed one run on four hits and three walks while striking out three. He earned his second win over Washington this season.

Atlanta’s Elieser Hernandez covered the final three innings in relief. He gave up five hits, including a solo homer to Andres Chaparro in the ninth, but fanned four, walked one and earned his first career save.

CJ Abrams also went deep for Washington.

Most of Atlanta’s damage came against Foster Griffin (12-3), who pitched 5 1/3 innings and permitted six runs on nine hits and two walks, striking out three. Griffin saw his eight-decision winning streak end.

Olson socked his 29th homer with two outs in the first, a 396-foot shot into the right field seats.

Atlanta added a run in the second when Jim Jarvis, who finished with three hits, lined an RBI single to center field.

Abrams cut the Nationals’ deficit to 2-1 leading off the fourth, when he crushed an elevated cutter from Elder high into the right field seats. It was his 28th homer and eighth in his past 12 games.

The Braves broke the game open in the sixth by scoring four times. Olson led off with a double, Ozzie Albies followed with a single and Harris lined a three-run blast 421 feet into the right field seats for his 20th home run.

Griffin soon exited with a runner on base, and Jarvis came through with an RBI single against Trevor Williams.

The Nationals got two runners on base in the seventh and eighth innings but came up empty both times. Washington finished 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 on base.

–Field Level Media