Athletics prospect Ryan Lasko said Thursday that he faces “a lengthy process” as he recovers from a broken back sustained during a collision in a minor league game on Tuesday night in Frisco, Texas.

Lasko, 24, was playing center field for Double-A Midland when he dove for a ball and collided with right fielder Devin Taylor, who also dove. Lasko laid motionless on the field for approximately 10 minutes before being carted off.

Lasko underwent spinal surgery Tuesday night at a hospital in Plano, Texas to repair a fractured C6-C7 vertebra. Doctors are hopeful he will regain movement in the lower half of his body.

“I’d like to thank everyone for the well wishes & prayers,” Lasko said on his Instagram account. “I truly feel so loved and appreciated by everyone that has reached out. I am doing well and on the road to recovery. This is going to be a lengthy process but I hope to be able to get back to doing what I love.”

Lasko also expressed thanks to the Midland organization and the Frisco RoughRiders, an affiliate of the Texas Rangers, for “making this a smooth process.”

Athletics major league manager Mark Kotsay is taking the optimistic approach.

“The positive in the statement from the doctor is that there is not a definitive statement saying he’s not going to regain feeling in his lower half,” Kotsay told reporters.

Lasko was a second-round pick out of Rutgers in 2023 and is rated as the Athletics’ No. 18 prospect by MLB Pipeline. He is batting .209 with six homers and 34 RBIs in 73 games this season.

–Field Level Media

The Las Vegas Aces are looking for their second win over the Chicago Sky in six days on Friday, after sustaining a shorthanded setback against the New York Liberty in Tuesday’s Commissioner’s Cup championship game.

Las Vegas had to fend without reigning MVP A’ja Wilson in Tuesday’s loss, as Wilson rolled her ankle in the Aces’ 107-99 win over the Sky in Chicago on Sunday. Jackie Young led all scorers with 31 points on 12-of-21 shooting while also dishing out seven assists, but she didn’t get enough help from her teammates to overcome a combined 51 points from New York’s Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart.

“It’s just about getting (Young) the ball and getting her kind of freeing her up and shaking her loose a little bit,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “Jackie will get cooking if you just give her the ball enough. She’ll find her spots.”

Wilson is questionable for Friday’s rematch with Chicago with that ankle injury, but it’s safe to say she’ll be a problem for the Sky if she is capable of playing. Before she left Sunday’s win in the closing moments, Wilson racked up a performance of 30 points, 15 rebounds, four steals and three blocks that had never previously occurred in WNBA history.

However, given the Sky’s struggles this season, it also wouldn’t be too shocking to see the Aces (14-5) play it safe with Wilson, named Thursday to start in the WNBA All-Star Game. The Aces listed Wilson as questionable for the contest.

To put the Sky’s struggles into perspective, the team started 3-1 but lost prized offseason acquisition Rickea Jackson during that third win (against the now league-best Minnesota Lynx) with a torn ACL after leading the team with 29 points in their previous game.

In the immediate aftermath of Jackson’s injury, the Sky dropped 11 of their next 12 games to fall to 4-12. Back-to-back wins over the expansion Portland Fire brought the Sky to their current total of six wins, but the Aces are heavily favored to hand them a second straight loss on Friday after Sunday’s initial meeting in Chicago.

A silver lining in the Sky’s loss to the Aces on Sunday was the production the team got from center Kamilla Cardoso and forward Azura Stevens, who each tallied 24 points on an efficient shooting clip while also anchoring the team defensively. Wilson’s 30 points and an additional 28 points from Young ended up stealing the show, but it was at the very least something to build off of for the Sky (6-13).

“We try to get (Cardoso) touches every single game, and she’s been playing amazing,” Stevens said. “We’re all so proud of her. She creates so much of an advantage for us against other teams, so it makes all of our jobs easier when she’s being aggressive because it opens up. They send doubles, they have to give attention to her down there, and it opens up wide open shots for us, cuts all around the perimeter, so yeah, she’s been killing it.”

–Field Level Media

Goncalo Ramos scored the go-ahead goal for Portugal in second-half stoppage time — then saw a potential equalizer for Croatia overturned by VAR moments later — as the Portuguese moved on to the World Cup’s round of 16 with a 2-1 victory in Toronto on Thursday.

Portugal, who also got a goal from Cristiano Ronaldo, will face Spain, a 3-0 winner against Austria earlier in the day, on Monday in Arlington, Texas.

Ramos, making just his second appearance of the tournament, entered in the 63rd minute. He put Portugal ahead 2-1 in the fourth minute of added time as he headed a perfect cross from Rafael Leao past Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.

Croatia thought it had pulled level in the 13th minute of stoppage time through substitute Josko Gvardiol. A video check, however, disallowed the goal, as Marco Pasalic was ruled to have been in an offside position when teammate Igor Matanovic made a slight flick of the ball with his head.

It turned out to be a massive relief for Portugal, which trailed 1-0 until the 68th minute.

After a VAR check found that Nikola Vlasic had taken down Portugal’s Renato Veiga in the box, Ronaldo converted the eventual penalty to make it 1-1, using a stutter-step move to fake out Livakovic. Ronaldo, 41, became the oldest player to score in a men’s World Cup knockout-stage game.

Ronaldo’s goal canceled out a 54th-minute opener for Croatia. Josip Stanisic’s cross from the right side glanced off the head of Portugal’s Ruben Dias and fell to Ivan Perisic.

With goalkeeper Diogo Costa pulled off his line, Perisic gathered himself and fired it into the back of the net for his first goal of the tournament.

Croatia looked to retake the lead in the 75th minute, but two brilliant saves by Costa — both on long-range attempts by Mateo Kovacic — kept the match level. Then, in the 81st minute, Croatia’s Petar Susic had a would-be goal ruled offside.

That set up Ramos’ eventual winner and later Gvardiol’s reversed equalizer, sending Croatia home and putting Portugal through to the final 16.

Costa ended the evening with five saves in the win. Livakovic stopped two of the four shots he faced.

–Field Level Media