Pulido scores twice, leads Sporting KC over St Louis City

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Alan Pulido scored twice in the first half to lead Sporting Kansas City to a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over St. Louis City on Saturday night.

St. Louis City (15-10-2) took a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute on a goal by Samuel Adeniran. Indiana Vassilev assisted on Adeniran's sixth netter of the season. Adeniran's goal ended a league-record run of six straight goals scored by a club's substitutes.

Pulido pulled Sporting KC (8-11-8) even in the 31st minute, taking a pass from Dániel Sallói to score his 11th goal of the campaign. Pulido used an assist from Jake Davis to score goal No. 12 in the 44th minute to give Sporting KC a 2-1 lead at halftime.

Roman Bürki turned away four shots for St. Louis City. Tim Melia had one save for Sporting KC.

St. Louis City handed Sporting KC its worst loss to an expansion team with a 4-0 victory in St. Louis in May.

Sporting KC picked up back-to-back victories for the second time this season and improved to 5-0-2 in its last seven home matches against first-year clubs. Its last home loss to an expansion team was a 2-0 defeat at the hands of CF Montreal in 2012.

St. Louis City, the Western Conference leaders, entered play with a record 47 points through its first 26 matches. It is already the fourth highest point total for a season by an expansion team.

Sporting KC hits the road to play Inter Miami on Saturday. St. Louis City travels to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Sept. 10.

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