This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The official filled up his book at Providence Park on Wednesday.

In a game with seven yellow cards and three reds, Real Salt Lake came out on top in a 4-1 win over the Portland Timbers.

With the victory, RSL ended two winless streaks: eight straight matches against Portland and 19 consecutive on artificial surface.

"I'm thrilled to death," RSL coach Mike Petke said. "We did a lot of speaking about this game building up to it, how we wanted to play, what it means as far as the remaining games and the standings. We broke down the points for us, what we were looking to get moving into the second half of the season, and we put everything together."

RSL moved up a spot in the standings, still four points out of the last Western Conference playoff spot. The Timbers dropped from fourth to fifth in the West.

RSL Captain Kyle Beckerman started the scoring off with a goal in the 10th minute to give his team an early 1-0 lead.

Tony Beltran played the ball back to Beckerman, and he found himself outside the 18 with plenty of space. Beckerman scanned the box looking for a pass, and then instead he lined a shot into the upper far corner of the goal.

Joao Plata doubled RSL's lead in the second half on a penalty kick, and Albert Rusnák's shot off the crossbar that hit goalkeeper Jake Gleeson in the back of the head to bounce in added some insurance.

Plata heaped it on in the 80th minute with his second goal of the night.

Portland got one back in stoppage time with a goal by Jack Barmby to avoid a shutout.

"I think overall the team kept its head pretty well," Beltran said, "and I think we played good soccer."

RSL's scoring power was almost overshadowed by the amount chippiness of the match. Real Salt Lake scored two of its goals with a man up due to red cards.

Portland's Lawrence Olum was booked first with a yellow card in the 28th minute, but the cards didn't start to fly until the end of the first half, when the pace of the game began to drag with yellows and injuries.

Portland defender Zarek Valentine started off the flurry when he kneed Jefferson Savarino from behind in the 41st minute. He received a yellow card.

Just a minute later Rusnák was booked for his reaction to getting elbowed in the face.

Between the aggressive play and the artificial surface, the bumps and complaints gave way to injuries.

In the 43rd minute, Timbers defender Chance Myers was carried off with an ankle injury.

Soon after, RSL left back Demar Phillips crumpled holding the leg he had extended on a volley. He also had gone down just three minutes into the match holding the same leg when it looked as if his cleats had stuck in the turf.

Trainers carried Phillips off the field and diagnosed him with a left hamstring contusion.

Just before going into halftime, the fifth yellow card of the game was issued to RSL's Danilo Acosta.

In the second half, the yellows turned red.

Portland's Victor Arboleda elbowed Plata in the face in the 53rd minute and was sent off for it.

Two minutes later, Beckerman and Timbers striker Fanendo Adi got tangled up. They exchanged words, and Adi chest bumped Beckerman to the ground. Both received red cards.

"I'm going to protest that for sure," Petke said of Beckerman's red card. "You very rarely hear me say this — referees have a hard job out there — but I don't think some decisions are very hard, and we're going to look at that."

For the rest of the match, RSL played with 10 on the field, and Portland had nine.

RSL's David Horst and the Timbers' Jack Barmby received the remaining two yellow cards. —

Storylines

R RSL midfielders Albert Rusnák, Jefferson Savarino and Joao Plata were able to pair up in a league-match starting lineup for just the fifth time this season.

>> Portland has not won since June 10, when it defeated FC Dallas 2-0 at home. The Timbers have gone 0-3-3 in the six games since.

>> RSL claims back-to-back road wins for the first time since May 2014.