TORONTO - Rookie Brett Cecil was called up to the majors to serve as an emergency stopgap in the Toronto Blue Jays rotation, but he and the other fill-ins on the starting staff won't be pushed out of jobs as long as they continue to pitch well.

The 22-year-old rookie pressed his case again Friday night by throwing six solid innings of three-run ball, making the most of his team's strong offensive showing in an 8-3 drubbing of the Chicago White Sox.

"You've got to go out and perform," said Cecil, one of the team's top prospects. "Once you get to this level, you've got to make adjustments on the mound, not the next day or the day after.

"You want to prove to them you belong up here."

With Casey Janssen pushing toward a callup from double-A New Hampshire after rehabbing his right shoulder injury, and lefty Ricky Romero nearing a return from a strained right oblique at triple-A Las Vegas, there was an expectation that they'd automatically return to the rotation once they were back to 100 per cent.

General manager J.P. Ricciardi said otherwise before the game, pointing out that it would be unfair to bump Cecil, fellow rookies Robert Ray and Scott Richmond, or converted reliever Brian Tallet unless they faltered.

"Right now, we don't have a spot for them," said Ricciardi, who includes Jesse Litsch, who isn't due back from a right forearm strain before mid-June, as a pitcher on the outside looking in. "That could change real quick."

Ray is believed to be closest to the bubble right now and his outing Saturday versus the White Sox may go a long way in determining whether he makes his scheduled start in Boston next week. Janssen is expected to be the next starter called up.

Cecil (2-0), meanwhile, did little to hurt his cause in picking up his second big-league win despite struggling with his slider. He put up four zeros while the game was close and then pounded the zone with plenty of insurance after a six-run fourth turned this one into a laugher.

Aaron Hill hammered a two-run shot in the third that opened the scoring and the Blue Jays (24-14) proceeded to bang out seven straight hits in the fourth while busting it open before a crowd of 17,241.

"The guys got the bats back out tonight and scored some runs," said manager Cito Gaston. "That gave Cecil a chance to relax a bit, he did a good job."

An end to their two-game losing skid well in hand at that point, the only drama left afterwards was whether the White Sox (15-19) could avoid a seventh shutout this season.

Paul Konerko's solo blast in the fifth took care of that, and Jermaine Dye, playing thanks to an appeal of the two-game suspension he received Friday, added a two-run blast in the sixth that made it 8-3 for the only other damage against Cecil, who has allowed just four earned runs in three big-league starts.

"You can tell something about the kid," said Hill. "He's not going out and walking a lot of guys, he's throwing strikes, and that's all we want him to do. If he gets hit, he gets hit. Each start he seems to build a little more confidence."

The homers were academic by then anyhow, after John Danks (2-3) got rocked in a brutal fourth. The inning went Adam Lind double, Scott Rolen single, Kevin Millar RBI single, Rod Barajas RBI double with Millar scoring on an error by left-fielder Carlos Quentin and Jose Bautista RBI double before Danks got yanked, sarcastically tipping his cap to the crowd before he left.

"These fans, I don't want to get into trouble, they're hockey fans, I'll call them that," said Danks. "They were getting on me pretty good. It was just kind of my way of slapping them back in the face."

D.J. Carrasco came on and gave up an RBI double to Marco Scutaro and a single to Aaron Hill before he nailed Alex Rios on the right forearm to load the bases. Scutaro scored when Vernon Wells hit into a double play to make it 8-0.

Deposed closer B.J. Ryan rejoined the team Friday after being activated from the 15-day disabled list and pitched the ninth in a non-save situation. After allowing a leadoff walk to Jim Thome, Ryan struck out the next two batters before getting Alexei Ramirez on a fly ball to end it.

"He got the job done, it's good to see," said Gaston, adding that the swings and misses were "a real good sign right there. We can use him, whether he gets back into his role or comes in there as the set-up man or like he did tonight."

Still, with Scott Downs' emergence in Ryan's absence, the two-time all-star is another pitcher to lose his place because of injury.

"It's a good thing that everyone is doing so well," said Hill. "On the flip side of that, there's some tough decisions to be made when these guys come back. Guys have done nothing but a great job so far, it's tough to take apart a team when you're on a roll."

Ricciardi joked about breaking tradition by having players lose their jobs while injured, but said performance was dictating the decisions, especially in the starting rotation.

He said for now he plans to stick with the current five, but added he might feel differently in the next couple of days.

"We're making this up as we go," he said.

Notes: Romero was activated from the DL and optioned to Syracuse. ... White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen will miss this weekend's games to attend son Ozzie Jr.'s college graduation. Bench coach Joey Cora will take over in his absence. ... Quentin returned to the lineup after missing two games with a sore left heel. ... Dye was suspended and fined an undisclosed amount after he threw his helmet and it bounced off plate-umpire Mike DiMuro in Wednesday's victory at Cleveland. Guillen also was ejected after the incident. ... Twenty years ago Friday, Gaston managed his first game with the Blue Jays, beating Cleveland 5-3 on May 15, 1989.