Style points don’t count in MLS, but a Bronx beatdown Wednesday night surely did. The Union circled the bases and a helpless New York City FC defense in a 5-1 win at Yankee Stadium, vaulting them into a playoff position in the East. The Union (8-12-9, 33 points) are over the playoff line in ninth with five games to play. They are three points behind Toronto for eighth, with a game in hand. The Union are also, thanks to the rout, fifth in the conference in goal differential. Union players inMiami on Saturday. They had a lot to celebrate Wednesday night as well. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier) Five different goal scorers made the difference. The attacking trio of Tai Baribo, Mikael Uhre and Daniel Gazdag scored in a 17-minute stretch in the first half to take control. Jakob Glesnes and Jesus Bueno iced the result with goals. Baribo opened the scoring in the 15th minute, heading home his eighth league goal of the season. He hung around in the right pocket of space after a cleared corner, Olivier Mbaizo heading forward a clearance for the assist. Baribo, who nearly scored two minutes later off a feed from Uhre, turned provider in the 25th after a bad NYCFC turnover. Uhre peeled off to the left channel and Baribo nudged the ball to him, the Dane slicing a shot back across the grain and into the corner of the net. The Union got help from an old friend on the third. Former Homegrown Matt Freese, who has been outstanding this season, spilled a Baribo header in the 32nd minute. It fell right onto the foot of Gazdag, who poked it home, charging on the doorstep for his 15th goal of the season. Between goals two and three, the Union got the kind of save from a goalie that has been in far too short supply this year. Andrew Rick, starting in place of the injured Andre Blake for a second straight game, got his hand down to turn away an effort by Keaton Parks. Parks’ effort was right at the goalie, but it was a big denial nonetheless that almost immediately led to a goal. The 18-year-old Rick played his best goal as a professional with seven saves. But he was left no chance with the final kick of the first half, a needlessly soft concession by the Union. With no pressure to left back Kevin O’Toole, Alonso Martinez shed Nathan Harriel, deputizing at center back, to meet the cross and bury it inside the six-yard box to recoup the deficit to 3-1. He would make up for it in the second half, with NYCFC (11-11-7, 40 points) pouring on the pressure. Parks, utterly snake bit, bashed a shot off the post in the 62nd. In the 60th, Rick had stood tall on a Mitja Ilenic curler ticketed for inside the post. Rick’s best save came in the 66th, when Mounsef Bakrar caught Harriel sleeping and toe-poked a shot that Rick batted off the line. Rick stoned Ilenic in the 82nd, a minute after Parks had a shot cleared off the line by a Glesnes header. That came after Glesnes had put the game away with the Union’s fourth in the 74th, thumping home a header off a corner. The assist was provided by Kai Wagner, his 50th career MLS assist. In a combination of subs, Sam Adeniran led a counter in the 85th minute, laying off to Quinn Sullivan and then to Bueno for his third goal of the season.