Teenage rookie David Martínez scored early, Denis Bouanga had two assists and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris earned his league-leading 14th shutout of the season as LAFC breezed to a 3-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night.

Martínez took a pass from Denis Bouanga in the 14th minute and scored for the fourth time this season to give LAFC (17-8-7) the lead for good. Martínez was making his third start and 15th appearance.

Cristian Olivera found the net for the sixth time, scoring in the first minute of stoppage time to give LAFC a two-goal advantage at halftime. Bouanga notched his career-high 11th assist of the campaign on the goal, and Timothy Tillman added his career-best sixth.

Defender Aaron Long found the net in the 69th minute to complete the scoring. It was Long’s first goal since he scored four for the New York Red Bulls in 2022. Fellow defender Eddie Segura snagged his first assist this season and his first since he had two for the club in 2021.

Lloris totaled four saves in his shutout effort for LAFC.

Tim Melia saved one shot for Sporting KC (8-18-7).

LAFC will travel to play the Vancouver Whitecaps next Saturday before hosting the San Jose Earthquakes for a Decision Day match on Oct. 19 to close out the regular season.

Sporting KC will end its season with a road match against FC Dallas on Oct. 19.

The Kansas City Royals are opening up the American League Division Series on Saturday night against the New York Yankees.

Games 1 and 2 will be played in New York with first pitch Saturday coming at 6:38 p.m. ET. The Yankees won the American League East, earned the first-round bye and got the No. 1 seed in the American League playoffs. The Royals won the wild card series against the Baltimore Orioles in two games.

Gerrit Cole will take the ball for the Yankees in Game 1 while Michael Wacha toes the rubber for Kansas City. The Royals likely would have preferred to start Cole Ragans or Seth Lugo, but they each pitched in the wild card round. Ragans will pitch in Game 2.

According to Sarah Langs of MLB.com, Wacha will join some rare baseball history with his start.

Longest Span Between Postseason Starts – Wild Card Era

10/7/2006 – 10/20/2015 Chris Young: 9y, 13d
10/6/2007 – 10/9/2016 Rich Hill: 9y, 3d
10/3/2008 – 10/3/2017 Ervin Santana: 9y
10/12/2015 – 10/5/2024 Michael Wacha: 8y, 359d

h/t @MLBNetwork research squad

 Wacha was signed this past offseason after spending the 2023 season with the San Diego Padres. His signing was part of the Royals going from a 56-win team to a playoff team in just one offseason.

He went 13-8 with a 3.35 ERA this year, striking out 145 batters in 166.2 innings. Lifetime, he’s in the 12th year of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Mets, Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, Padres and Royals. He’s gone 101-62 with a 3.89 ERA and helped the Cardinals get to the World Series in 2013.

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THOMAS COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 10p.m. Friday in Thomas County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Ford F250 pickup driven by Kade  Homm, 18, Flagler, Colorado, was southbound on County Road 21 just south of the County Road CC Junction.

At the Y intersection of County Road 21 and a private drive, the pickup traveled  off the road  and struck a tree row. 

A passenger Emma C Brungardt, 21, Blue Rapids, Kansas, was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Baalmann Mortuary,

EMS transported Homm and passengers Alaura Crockett-Armijo, 20, Larned; Kerstin S. Tommer, 19, Newton; Lakeddah J. Downes, 18, Council Grove and  Emma G. Krase, 18, Galva, to Citizens Medical Center. All six were properly restrained, according to the KHP.