The Revolution rallied from a two-goal halftime deficit, but a Maicon Santos strike ended their hopes a 3-2 loss to D.C. United on Saturday night at RFK Stadium.

Brandon McDonald (15’) and Dejan Jakovic (45+1’) made it a two-goal D.C. lead at the half. But the Revolution responded with goals from Saer Sene (48’) and A.J. Soares (50’) to tie it before Santos broke the 2-2 tie in the 61st minute.

With the loss, the Revolution’s record dropped to 4-7-1 (13 points) while the United upped their record to 8-4-3 (27 points), good enough for first place in the Eastern Conference.

Simms out again: For the second straight game, Revolution starting defensive midfielder Clyde Simms was forced to the sidelines with ankle tendinitis. Midfielder Ryan Guy again was tabbed to take over Simms’ spot.

Guy out, Cardenas in: Guy came off with an apparent leg injury in the 28th minute. The injury forced Jay Heaps to do some personnel shuffling, as outside midfielder Benny Feilhaber assumed Guy’s role and Fernando Cardenas came in to take over the outside midfielder role.

Falling into an early ditch: The two-goal deficit the Revolution faced at halftime marked the second time this season that they entered the second frame down by two. The last time it happened was against Sporting K.C. on Mar. 17, when a 14th-minute red card forced the Revolution to play shorthanded for the duration.

Sene strikes again: Revolution striker Saer Sene scored his team-leading seventh goal in the 48th minute when he tapped through the rebound from a hard Feilhaber shot that ricocheted off the mitts of D.C. keeper Bill Hamid.

Set piece success -- finally: Despite their struggles on defensive set pieces, the Revolution scored their first set-piece goal of 2012. In the 50th minute, Tierney delivered a keen ball toward the near post that Soares flicked in to make it a 2-2 game.

Rapid fire response: The strikes from Sene and Soares within a two-minute span marked the fastest two goals scored by the Revolution this season. The previous best was the three-minute sequence on March 30, when Kelyn Rowe and Tierney scored in the 10th and 13th minutes in a 3-1 win over Los Angeles.

Moreno makes an appearance: Revolution striker Jose Moreno saw the field for the first time since May 2. The 30-year-old Colombian came on in the 69th minute for Blake Brettschneider and registered his lone shot on goal in the 78th minute.

Knocking on the door late: The Revolution’s best chance to tie it late came in the 89th minute, when Tierney sent a corner kick toward Rowe near the six. But the rookie midfielder’s header was tipped over the bar by Hamid.

Revolution’s streak of success in D.C. snapped: The 3-2 loss marked the first time the Revolution walked out of RFK Stadium without at least a tie since a 2-1 loss to D.C. on Oct. 16, 2008. Prior to Saturday, the Revolution were 2-0-1 in their last three in D.C.

Next up: The Revolution return to action on June 2 against the Chicago Fire at Gillette Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.