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.