SANDY – Real Salt Lake entered its MLS return at America First Field on Saturday with plenty of excitement after a busy summer transfer window, but it took the San Jose Earthquakes just 20 minutes to bring it all back down to earth.

A long-range shot from Cristian Espinoza in the 20th minute was too much for Zac MacMath and just 13 minutes later the Earthquakes doubled their lead and went into halftime with a 2-0 advantage.

These results extended RSL’s streak of clean sheets to eight games in MLS, with their last clean sheet coming on June 15 in a 0-0 draw.

“It’s obviously a big problem because when you’re not scoring goals, the last thing you can afford as a group is to concede goals,” said head coach Pablo Mastroeni. “The second goal is two games in a row where we’ve conceded goals from long free kicks. So we’ll try to make some adjustments there.”

MLS leading scorer Chicho Arango suffered a hamstring strain in the first half and was forced to leave the field just before halftime for RSL, adding to an already difficult battle for the home team.

New, highly-rated striker Diogo Goncalves started on his RSL debut as Diego Luna was sidelined with multiple yellow cards, but the offense struggled to find the target throughout the game, with only four of 17 shots finding the net.

Lachlan Brook and Javain Brown made their RSL debuts in the second half but could not change the result. The loss also extends the club’s winless streak in MLS to four games.

Claret and Cobalt will remain home for next week’s game against New England on August 31 at 7:30 p.m. MDT.