Hernán López scored in his second straight match, but the San Jose Earthquakes allowed three goals in the final 16 minutes of regulation and another in extra time in a 4-2 loss at Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday night.
The Quakes (3-9-1) had won three in a row to move out of last place in the 14-team Western Conference, but fell back to the bottom of the standings with the loss.
The Timbers (3-6-4) snapped a nine-game winless streak kept San Jose winless all-time at Providence Park.
López, making his fourth appearance (and third start) since signing for a club-record transfer fee of nearly $6 million late last month, appeared to have the Quakes well on their way to finally breaking through at Portland when he chipped a shot over the head of Portland goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau to put San Jose up 2-0 in the 34th minute.
It was the 23-year-old attacking midfielder’s second goal in four days for the Quakes. The great-nephew of legendary Argentina star Diego Maradona scored the tying goal in an eventual 3-2 comeback win at Colorado on Saturday for their first road win of the season.
But the Quakes weren’t able to maintain their early momentum against the Timbers in a wild finish that saw Portland score the go-ahead goal on a penalty kick at the end of regulation.
Shortly after San Jose’s Bruno Wilson was sent off with a red card, Evander converted a penalty kick to cut the Quakes’ lead to 2-1 in the 74th minute. Jonathan Rodriguez tied the score six minutes later.
A collision between Rodriguez and San Jose goalkeeper William Yarbrough was checked by video review, awarding Portland the penalty at the end of regulation. Felipe Mora scored for his sixth goal of the season. Rodriguez added a second goal in stoppage time.
Amahl Pellegrino gave San Jose a 1-0 lead in the 31st, scoring after Crepeau punched away a header off a corner kick.
San Jose returns home Saturday night to play Orlando (3-5-4).
