Jays Beat Rays 5-1

Rookie lefty Brett Cecil made a third straight impressive start for the Toronto Blue Jays, throwing seven innings of one-run ball in a 5-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday afternoon.

The 23-year-old struck out seven and pushed his shutout streak to 18 frames before Carl Crawford ripped a solo shot in the sixth inning to make it a 3-1 contest. But Cecil (4-1) held the damage to that and the offence provided some extra cushion to help bring it home.

Scott Rolen, like ace Roy Halladay the subject of trade speculation, hit a three-run shot in the fourth, another run scored on a Vernon Wells double-play grounder in the sixth and Marco Scutaro added an RBI single in the seventh as the Blue Jays (48-51) completed a trying and emotional nine-game homestand 4-5 before a crowd of 30,610.

Twice during the past week fans bid a prospective farewell to Halladay, who is the biggest prize available ahead of the July 31 trade deadline, and the posturing over his future continues.

ESPN reported on its website that the Blue Jays had turned down an offer from the Philadelphia Phillies of lefty J.A. Happ along with triple-A prospects Michael Taylor, an outfielder, pitcher Carlos Carrasco and shortstop Jason Donald for Halladay.

That comes after the Phillies are said to have rejected a Toronto request for Happ, double-A starter Kyle Drabek and single-A outfielder Dominic Brown for the ace right-hander.

The Angels have also reportedly upped their efforts to land Halladay, although the Phillies remain the perceived front-runner and a Blue Jays scout watched their single-A affiliate Clearwater play Sunday.

Manager Cito Gaston said before the game that he’s not paying attention to all the speculation, and doubted the rumours were related to his club’s recent swoon.

“Guys are busy taking care of themselves and unfortunately that’s just the way this game is,” he said. “If we were in first place or something like that and they were talking about dealing a couple guys away that are really helping your ball club, I think that would affect you a little bit then. We’re 12 games out, I don’t think guys are thinking that way.”

As things stand, Gaston has plenty of other things to worry about, and with Cecil and fellow rookie southpaw Mark Rzepczynski fast approaching their targetted innings limit of 150 innings, he was musing about going to a six-man rotation by mid-August.

Cecil has thrown 59 frames in the majors to go with his 49 innings for triple-A Las Vegas, while Rzepczynski has 22 1-3 in the big-leagues and a combined 88 in the minors.

Some help could come Friday in Oakland, when Scott Richmond of North Vancouver, B.C., is tentatively set to return from a shoulder injury after an impressive rehab outing Saturday, when he allowed a run on three hits over 5 1-3 innings as triple-A Las Vegas fell 2-1 at Tacoma.

Shaun Marcum (elbow surgery), meanwhile, is also closing in on a possible return sometime next month.

“They’re going to run out of innings, so we’re going to have to back some guys up,” said Gaston. “We might even have to go with six starters.”

Dealing Halladay, who will pitch on his normal rest if he stays, would only exacerbate the situation.

Cecil is at least making the most of his chance to impress, outduelling Jeff Niemann (9-5), who allowed five runs in 6 2-3 innings. Brandon League and Jason Frasor handled the final two innings.

The Rays (54-45), who couldn’t overcome Rolen’s three-run shot, lost for the third time in their past five games.