Santos comes up big for Crew

Crew 3, Red Bulls 2

Pedro Santos has always been thought of as a player not worth the money of a designated player. On Saturday night at Red Bull Arena, he found his way firmly into the Crew supporters’ good graces with a late game-winner.

Crew striker Gyasi Zardes took a shot from close range on the right side of the penalty area that was saved by Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles. Santos, watching the play the whole way, pounced on the ball as it redirected off Robles to the center of the box, and the Portuguese winger buried it in the 84th minute for a 3-2 victory against the fourth-best team in the Eastern Conference.

It was Santos’ second goal of the game and his seventh of the season, after scoring just one goal in his previous season and a half with the club.

After defeating Montreal seven days earlier for its first win since May 8, the Crew (7-14-3, 24 points) knocked off the Red Bulls (10-9-4, 34) for

its first road win since the second week of the season.

The Crew knew the space behind the Red Bulls defense would be there to exploit. It just had to avoid mistakes in its own end.

The two goals allowed came on a defensive breakdown in the box and a poor foul that resulted in a penalty kick. But both times, the Crew scored the next goal.

After Red Bulls striker Brian White scored his eighth goal of the season in the 15th minute, the Crew

responded before the Red Bulls could even step foot in the offensive half.

Center back Alex Crognale booted a ball past the New York back line to striker Zardes down the right side of the box. Zardes laid off a pass into space to his left for winger Luis Argudo to run onto it and bury his first career professional goal in the 16th minute.

Argudo followed up his goal with an assist on Santos’ first goal right out of halftime. In the 46th minute, left back Hector Jimenez launched a ball down the left side of the field, where Argudo ran onto it. He spilled it in the box right to Santos, who slotted it past Robles.

Then in the 66th minute, the Red Bulls evened things up again off a penalty kick from Daniel Royer. Argudo tugged Royer’s jersey on a set piece in the box that took Royer to the ground.

There were some nervous moments for the Crew back line until the club was able to respond with the next goal for the fifth straight time after conceding a goal in the past three games.

Over the stretch when the Crew lost 13 of 16 games, it seemed like all of the luck was with the other teams and the Crew was punished for every mistake. While there’s still plenty to clean up on the defensive side of the field, the Crew found a way to earn three points against a top club.

Santos’ production always seemed to be the missing piece with this club the past two seasons. Saturday night, it showed up in the biggest of moments.

jmyers@dispatch.com @Jacob_myers_25