Toronto FC feeling frustration of early-season injuries, blown leads

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Diego Rossi had a goal and two assists, Juan “Cucho” Hernández had one of each and the Columbus Crew breezed to a 4-0 victory over Toronto FC on Saturday night.

The defending-champion Crew (11-3-6) have won four in a row by outscoring their opponents 15-1. Toronto (7-13-3), which has yet to use the same starters in back-to-back matches this season, has lost six straight.

Patrick Schulte finished with two saves to earn his seventh clean sheet of the season, third most in the league.

Columbus scored the only goal it would need when Cucho took a pass from Rossi in the 15th minute and scored his 11th goal this season.

Cucho picked up his seventh assist in the 52nd minute on a netter by Christian Ramírez — his fifth — for a 2-0 advantage.

Rossi set up defender Mohamed Farsi in the 81st minute for a three-goal lead. It was the third score this season for Farsi and the 10th assist for Rossi.

Rossi completed the scoring with his seventh goal, unassisted in the 85th minute.

Sean Johnson saved two shots in goal for Toronto.

Columbus leads the all-time series 19-11-13 and improves to 13-4-6 at home. Toronto has not won in Columbus since a 2-1 victory in May of 2017.

Toronto returns home to play the Philadelphia Union on Saturday. The Crew hit the road to take on Los Angeles FC on Saturday.

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