PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- Mauricio Cienfuegos' goal in the fourth minute gave the Los Angeles Galaxy a 1-0 victory over the Columbus Crew on Tuesday night.

Luis Hernandez set up the game's lone score, passing to Cienfuegos, who sprinted past Columbus midfielder John DeBrito. Cienfuegos then put a shot from the top of the penalty area past goalkeeper Mark Dougherty.

Los Angeles (9-5-7) improved to a league-best 8-0-1 when scoring first.

"Offensively, it was much better," Los Angeles coach Sigi Schmid said. "I think we were unfortunate that we didn't get three or four goals."

Columbus coach Tom Fitzgerald said his team played poorly in the first half.

"In the second half we made a few substitutions, seemed to get back in the game a little bit, we just couldn't get the equalizer," he said.

The game was played before an MLS-season record crowd of 53,844 at the Rose Bowl, beating the mark of 53,126, set earlier Tuesday night at Colorado.