Toronto FC defender Justin Morrow (2) celebrates his goal against the Orlando City SC at BMO Field.Tom Szczerbowski
Jozy Altidore scored two goals while Marky Delgado, Sebastian Giovinco and Justin Morrow added singles as Toronto FC defeated Orlando City SC 5-0 on Saturday afternoon at BMO Field.
After a rather plodding first half, Toronto came storming out after the break and capitalized right away. Michael Bradley drew three defenders with a strong run down the left side before sliding a pass across to Delgado, who buried his third goal of the season in the 46th minute.
That was enough against an expansion side that seemed flummoxed for most of the game. A red card to Rafael Ramos in the 36th minute didn't help matters for the visitors.
Giovinco scored his team-leading 17th goal by blasting a free kick from just outside the box in the 57th minute. The shot bent in Beckham-like fashion into the top corner, kickstarting chants of "M-V-P" from many of the 26,397 in attendance on a glorious summer afternoon.
In the 71st minute, slick passing between Giovinco and Bradley created space for Morrow, who tapped in a pass from the American midfielder. Altidore, a second-half substitute, scored on a penalty kick in the 83rd and added another goal two minutes later.
The victory ended Toronto's two-game winless skid and created more space between the Eastern Conference clubs in the standings. Toronto (10-10-4) moved into a tie with the idle New England Revolution for fourth place with 34 points.
Giovinco, meanwhile, moved just one goal behind Columbus forward Kei Kamara for the Major League Soccer scoring lead.
Orlando City (7-12-7) remained in a sixth-place tie with Montreal and idle New York City FC with 28 points. The Impact were home to the Philadelphia Union later Saturday.
Midfielder Kaka was out due to an ankle injury when the teams last met Aug. 5 in a 4-1 Toronto win. The Brazilian star returned Saturday but was essentially a non-factor.
Kaka has struggled of late with the expansion side and this game was no different. At times he was visibly frustrated with some of his teammates' decisions.
Orlando City used a hail-mary pass offensive strategy at times. Kaka and forward Cyle Larin of Brampton, Ont., would hover as deep as they could in the Toronto zone and hope the long boot from the back would connect.
They were hamstrung early on and the visitors didn't manage a decent opportunity until the 42nd minute when Luke Boden's free kick curled just over the bar.
Toronto took over the game in the second half and didn't let up in completing a sweep of the three-game season series. Bradley finished the game with three assists and goalkeeper Chris Konopka earned the shutout.
Orlando City's Adrian Winter was given a red card in the 82nd minute after taking Altidore down in the box. There were also six yellow cards handed out on the day.
Notes: Toronto has 10 games remaining in the regular season, seven of them at home. Next up is a home game against Montreal next Saturday before a Sept. 5 game at Seattle.