COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Diego Rossi scored early, Jacen Russell-Rowe used an assist from goalkeeper Patrick Schulte to score late and the Columbus Crew handed Toronto its 10th straight loss in all competitions, upping their unbeaten streak at home to 12 with a 2-0 victory on Saturday night.
Rossi found the net in his second appearance and first start for Columbus (12-7-6) in his return to the league, scoring unassisted in the 21st minute to give the Crew a 1-0 lead. Rossi scored 48 goals for Los Angeles FC from 2018-21 before heading overseas to play for Turkey’s Fenerbahçe S.K.
Russell-Rowe used a pass from Schulte in the 89th minute to score his fourth goal of the season.
Schulte finished with three saves to earn the clean sheet for Columbus. Tomás Romero had six saves in his third start of the season for Toronto (3-13-10).
The Crew beat Toronto for a third straight time at home after going 2-3-5 in the first 10 home meetings in the series.
Toronto becomes the fourth team in league history to lose 10 straight in all competitions. Cincinnati set the record at 14 spanning the 2021-22 seasons.
The Crew are 9-0-3 in their last 12 contests at home and 16-1-7 in their last 24. Columbus has had seven unbeaten streaks of 11 or more at home since the start of the 2016 season.
Columbus travels to play the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday. Toronto returns home to host the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday.
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