The center back said the home team lacked energy in Sunday's defeat to the New York Red Bulls.

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Timbers dropped a 2-0 result to the New York Red Bulls on Sunday in a performance that led defender Nat Borchers to say he and his teammates owe fans an apology.

Despite being on short rest after a midweek loss to the New England Revolution and a flight across the country to Portland, the New York Red Bulls were much more energetic getting two first-half goals that stood up.

Not only did the defeat come in front of the noisy home supporters at Providence Park, it came on a day the Timbers were recognizing players from the NASL and USL iterations of the club as celebrations of 40 years of the Timbers name continue. For center back Borchers, that made the poor showing even less acceptable.

"I think this is something that is tough to swallow because it’s at home, we had a lot of our supporters and our old-time guys who used to play for this club, guys who were here for the 40th anniversary of this club, and we needed to step up and play better for them," Borchers said. "They deserved a better match from us, and we owe them an apology for sure."

Both Borchers and Timbers coach Caleb Porter said the team would need time to evaluate exactly why they came out flat, but Porter echoed Borchers' frustration. The Timbers could have put distance between themselves and the San Jose Earthquakes in the Western Conference playoff race, but now sit just one point ahead of the Quakes with one fewer match played.

"I need time, and they need time as well to think about it, sit on it and then we're going to talk about it on Tuesday. A lot of times I have answers after a game of 'Why this?' 'Why that?'" Porter said in a news conference. "A lot of times it's easy to say the other team was better. Sometimes it's we were poor, sometimes it's finishing, sometimes it's defending. I think it was a combination of things today.

"I need time to look at it, think about it. We didn't look sharp from the start. Why is that? Is it the break? They looked in rhythm. Obviously they're a good team, so that's a part of it as well."

"It's disappointing," he continued, "and we need to sort it out, and we're going to have to go on the road and win now and do it the hard way."

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