diego fagúndez

Joseph Paintsil had a hat trick by halftime and the Galaxy cruised to a 4-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night.

Paintsil scored goals in the fourth, 25th, and 43rd minutes for his first hat trick and the fastest in club history. Paintsil has nine goals this season. Defender Mauricio Cuevas notched two assists for a career-best five this season.

Diego Fagúndez used assists from Paintsil — his fifth — and Gabriel Pec to score his fifth goal and cap the scoring for the Galaxy (5-17-9) in the 60th minute. Pec assisted on Paintsil’s final goal and has eight this season. Fagúndez picked up his third assist on Paintsil’s first netter.

Dejan Joveljić scored in the 28th minute for Sporting KC (7-19-6). It was his 18th goal of the season after scoring 15 times for the Galaxy last season in their championship run.

Novak Micovic saved five shots for the Galaxy.

John Pulskamp had five saves for Sporting KC.

Shapi Suleymanov will miss the next match for Sporting KC after he subbed in in the 70th minute and was tagged with a red card in the 83rd.

Sporting KC travels to play Minnesota United on Saturday. The Galaxy travel to play FC Dallas on Saturday.

Marco Reus and Diego Fagúndez scored goals and Galaxy defeated D.C. United 2-1 on Saturday night.

Reus scored in the 23rd minute with a right-footed shot from the right side of the box to the lower left-central zone and the Galaxy carried the 1-0 advantage into the halftime break.

The Galaxy outshot the United 13-11 overall and 5-3 on goal.

Fagúndez made it 2-0 for the Galaxy early in the second half when he scored with from the center of the box to the bottom left corner.

In the 77th minute, Gabriel Pirani got the United on the board, connecting from the center of the box to the bottom right corner.

Pirani’s goal was the first for the United (4-11-7) in four games. They are winless in their past five matches.

Novak Micovic had two saves for the Galaxy (3-13-6) and Luis Barraza had three saves for United.

CHESTER, Pa. — Tai Baribo scored two second-half goals, including the winner in stoppage time, and the Philadelphia Union rallied to beat the Galaxy for the first time at home with a 3-2 victory on Wednesday night.

The Galaxy (0-9-4) continued the worst start by a defending champion in MLS history despite Diego Fagúndez becoming the eighth player in league history to reach 75 goals and 75 assists in a career.

Baribo scored in the sixth minute of stoppage time after tying the match 2-2 with a goal in the 50th for the Union (8-3-2), who are on a five-match unbeaten run. Baribo has a league-leading 10 goals this season.

Defender Mauricio Cuevas scored for the first time this season and the second time in 31 career appearances to give the Galaxy the lead in the 31st minute. Fagúndez scored his second goal this season for a 2-0 lead in the 37th. Marco Reus collected assists on both scores.

Philadelphia tied it in the first five minutes of the second half. Jacob Glesnes headed in a goal off a corner kick by Kai Wagner in the 48th minute.

Homegrown goalkeeper Andrew Rick made the 10th start of his career and did not have a save for the Union.

John McCarthy had four saves as the Galaxy built a 2-0 lead in the first half and finished with seven.

Philadelphia improved to 1-3-2 all time at home in the Galaxy’s first visit since 2018.

The Union travel to play Atlanta United on Saturday. The Galaxy will host rival LAFC on Sunday.