Pablo Ortiz scored just before halftime to set the Houston Dynamo on course to a 2-0 victory over visiting Minnesota United on Wednesday night.
Felipe Andrade added a second goal for Houston (3-6-4, 13 points) in the 77th minute, as the Dynamo earned their third home shutout win.
The goals were the first in MLS play for both Ortiz and Andrade, as each South American defender made their first starts and second appearances for the Dynamo.
Jonathan Bond made one save to keep his second clean sheet, and Houston’s fifth overall, one match after a first-half red card heavily influenced a 3-1 home defeat to the Seattle Sounders.
Minnesota (6-3-4, 22 points) saw a three-match winning streak snapped and lost on the road for the first time since a 1-0 defeat at LAFC on opening weekend.
Amid a busy patch of games for both sides, Loons manager Eric Ramsay made eight changes to the starting lineup that earned a 4-1 home win over Lionel Messi and Inter Miami over the weekend.
Despite those switches, Houston had relatively few chances early in the contest, coming closest in the 15th minute when Ezequiel Ponce’s header from close range forced Dayne St. Clair into a reaction save.
But the Dynamo did get on the board on a corner kick in first-half stoppage time. After the first ball was partially cleared, Amine Bassi drove a shot from the edge of the penalty area that deflected off a Minnesota defender and popped up in the air.
Ortiz was first to the redirection, heading it into the top corner, just above defender D.J. Taylor who had been stationed on the post.
It was also the second phase of a corner kick that led to Andrade’s insurance tally.
After Jack McGlynn’s initial corner sailed across the box, the ball eventually came back to the midfielder on the right, who curled in an excellent first-time cross to the back post.
A Minnesota defender slid to deflect it only as far as Andrade, whose first shot from about 10 yards was blocked back to his feet by another defender. He then fired a second shot past the diving St. Clair.
–Field Level Media
