Stefan Frei finished with three saves on the way to his 112th career regular-season shutout — tying Kevin Hartman for second place on the all-time list — and the Sounders used an own goal in the first half and a Jonathan Bell score against his former team in the second to beat St. Louis City 2-0 on Wednesday night.
Seattle (10-7-7) has won five in a row and is on a seven-match unbeaten streak, going 6-0-1 during the run to climb into sixth place in the Western Conference.
St. Louis City (4-10-10), which won the regular-season title as an expansion team last season, continues to struggle in its sophomore campaign, falling to 0-4-0 in four all-time matchups with the Sounders.
Seattle used an own goal by St. Louis City defender Tim Parker in the 29th minute to take a 1-0 lead into halftime.
Seattle took a two-goal lead four minutes into the second half when former St. Louis City defender Jonathan Bell took a pass from Albert Rusnák and scored for the first time — on a header — in his fifth start and sixth appearance with the Sounders. Bell made two starts and three appearances for St. Louis City last season. It was the 11th assist for Rusnák, already seven more than he had in either of his previous two seasons in Seattle.
Frei earned his seventh clean sheet of the season for Seattle. Nick Rimando set the career record with 154.
Roman Bürki saved four shots — all in the second half — for St. Louis City, which dropped a 2-1 decision to the Sounders at home earlier this season. Seattle is the only team St. Louis City has never earned a point against. The club has lost three in a row overall and been outscored 10-2.
Seattle’s only loss at home this season was a 2-0 setback to the Vancouver Whitecaps on April 20.
St. Louis City stays on the road to play Sporting Kansas City on Saturday. The Sounders will host Los Angeles FC on Saturday.
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