Diego Valeri reached a huge milestone when he tied the Portland Timbers' all-time club record for career goals scored last Friday against the New York Red Bulls.

It took him just 21 minutes to break the record Wednesday night.

Valeri netted his 52nd career goal for Portland and his fifth goal in five games as the Timbers (11-9-7, 40 points) beat the Colorado Rapids (6-14-4, 22 points) 2-1 in front of 21,144 fans at Providence Park.

Portland has now won three-straight games at home. The Timbers also jumped into second place in the Western Conference standings with the win, though all but one other team in the West holds games in hand on Portland.

"It's a big three points," Timbers coach Caleb Porter said. "That puts us in a good spot."

The Timbers were expected to win Wednesday night. They were on their home turf and competing against a struggling Colorado team still reeling from the recent firing of longtime head coach Pablo Mastroeni.

And the Timbers clearly dominated the match. But they also allowed Colorado to remain firmly in the game due to two glaring mistakes.

"It felt less convincing than we want," Porter said. "I thought we showed maturity in not conceding the (game-tying goal), but we should have certainly scored several other goals to make the margin bigger."

Portland found the opening goal in the 21st minute when Valeri headed-home a pass from Vytas. With the goal, Valeri not only set the Timbers club record in career goals scored, but also set a new individual record for goals in a single season and jumped to third in MLS with 15 goals this year.

The Timbers doubled their lead two minutes later when Darlington Nagbe controlled a pass from Vytas in the box before turning and firing an incredible shot into the far corner of the net.

But the Timbers didn't do enough to put the game away after that.

The Rapids pulled a goal back in the 28th minute when Lawrence Olum turned possession over with a bad pass and then failed to close down Mohammed Saeid. Saeid easily dribbled to the top of the box before placing an open shot into the corner of the net to close the gap. It was Saeid's first goal in 72 MLS appearances.

Moments later, Valeri was pulled to the ground in the box by Colorado defender Mike da Fonte. Referee David Gantar didn't immediately make a call, but instead asked for video review and ultimately awarded the Timbers a penalty after watching the replay.

Valeri, who is one of two players that generally take penalties for the Timbers, surprisingly handed the ball off to David Guzman, who sent his first-ever PK for the Timbers wide.

"I don't know why he took the PK. Valeri takes our PKs," Porter said. "We all know that. Valeri and (Fanendo) Adi. They know that and when he stepped up to take the PK, I turned to the bench and said, 'I don't know what's going on here.' But Valeri makes those decisions and he decided to give him the PK."

Guzman was also issued a yellow card later in the match and will be suspended for Portland's rivalry game against the Seattle Sounders.

But despite the scoreline, the Rapids never came all that close to finding the game-tying goal. Portland controlled 65.5 percent of possession, completed 89 percent of their passes and outshot Colorado 17-11 in the match.

With the win, the Timbers raised the stakes for Sunday's rivalry match on the road at Seattle. Portland will enter the game just one point behind the first-place Sounders in the Western Conference standings.

"We're pushing for the top," Porter said. "We want to be fighting for the top until the season is done."

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg