SAN JOSE — Josef Martinez came through just in the nick of time.

The Earthquakes striker saved the home team from an ugly result on Wednesday night at PayPal Park, avoiding a loss to FC Dallas with a clutch 87th-minute header that erased a one-goal deficit and secured a 2-2 tie for San Jose.

The Quakes had their hands full with Dallas forward Petar Musa, who netted goals late in the first half and in the 85th minute to power the visitors’ offensive attack.

The Earthquakes didn’t leave the game unscathed on the injury front either. Defender Vitor Costa, after picking up a yellow card during a collision in the 30th minute, left the field on a stretcher in the 34th and was either. Defender Vitor Costa, after picking up a yellow card during a collision in the 30th minute, left the field on a stretcher in the 34th and was replaced by substitute Dave Romney.

“I think he took about a dozen stitches,” San Jose coach Bruce Arena said of Costa. “I was concerned that he had possibly a broken leg or ankle, but hopefully not. He had a big cut.”

Arena heartily disagreed with the yellow card on Costa as well as the overall outlay of cautions given in the game. The Earthquakes (7-8-8, 29 points) were given five yellows, while Dallas (5-10-7, 22 points) was not presented with any.

“I have no control of the referees, how they give cards out,” Arena said. “For Vitor to get a card on that play is absolutely ridiculous.”

The Quakes went up 1-0 in the 21st minute after Ian Harkes finished a sequence where the ball touched six Quakes players in or around the 18-yard box. Martinez, who set up Harkes in an open area just outside the box, was credited with the assist after Harkes bent the ball into the top-right corner of the net.

Musa scored an equalizer for FC Dallas in the third minute of first-half stoppage time, finishing the play when Patrickson Delgado hit the crossbar after trying to chip the ball past Quakes goalkeeper Daniel with a wide-open net in front of him.

“Sloppy performance at the end of both halves,” Arena said. “The first goal they scored, we could have done better on that play, but give them credit. The second goal they scored, we have three guys who just fell asleep, did a really poor job.

“I give our guys a lot of credit for getting a point out of this game. But it’s a game where if we’re a little bit better, maybe we win by a couple of goals.”

Daniel rebounded from Musa’s late first-half equalizer to make a crucial save in the 64th minute, using his body to stop a point-blank attempt from Shaq Moore inside the box.

San Jose nearly took the lead in the 73rd minute on an own goal when newly minted MLS All-Star Cristian Espinoza served a ball in from the right wing, and Dallas defender Lalas Abubakar volleyed it off the crossbar.

When Musa scored his second goal on a free run through the heart of the box in the 85th minute, it looked like the Earthquakes would leave with nothing to show for their effort. But Martinez made sure they walked away from their final home game before the All-Star break with something to build on.

“We have to keep working. We have a chance to go to the playoffs, and we want it a lot,” Quakes defender Bruno Wilson said. “... Soccer is about details, and we have to learn from the mistakes and change the details that we are not so good at.”

An announced crowd of 15,304 fans attended the midweek match, though many sections of empty seats were visible.

The Quakes are ninth in the MLS Western Conference standings, occupying the final play-in spot in the Western Conference.