Gerso Fernandes, Felipe Gutierrez lead SKC in rout of San Jose Earthquakes

Gerso Fernandes scored twice and collected two assists, and Felipe Gutierrez added a goal and two assists as Sporting Kansas City scored three times in the first half and coasted to a 5-1 win over the host San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night at Avaya Stadium.

Gutierrez scored his seventh goal in the 18th minute when he converted a left-footed shot and sent the ball into the bottom right corner of the net after getting a feed from Fernandes.

Gutierrez then set up Fernandes five minutes later on the same exact play to make it 2-0.

After Ike Opara scored an unassisted goal in the 42nd minute, Fernandes and Gutierrez teamed up to set up Krisztian Nemeth's tally in the 67th minute.

Gutierrez started the play with a long lead pass to Fernandes in the box. Fernandes slid the ball over to Nemeth, who fired in a right-footed shot into the right side of the net.

Fernandes finished off the rout, scoring in the 86th minute by floating a left-footed shot into the net.

The tandem's big night helped Sporting KC (15-7-6, 51 points) win for the fifth time in six games. Four of their last five wins are by shutouts, and SKC moved one point ahead of FC Dallas for first place in the Western Conference.

Gutierrez recorded a career-high three points in his second career multi-point game. Fernandes set a career high with four points.

Danny Hoesen helped San Jose avoid the shutout by scoring in the 80th minute.

The Earthquakes saw their league-worst record fall to 4-16-8 (20 points), though they own two wins over Dallas last month. San Jose lost by more than one goal for only the third time this year, and goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell allowed a career-high five goals.

SKC goalkeeper Tim Melia stopped four shots. The Earthquakes registered 17 shots, with five on target.

SKC had 16 shots, with 10 on target.