The Toronto Blue Jays didn't look back after Scott Rolen's home run in the fifth inning on Tuesday night, taking the second game of a doubleheader with the Chicago White Sox, 8-2.

Rolen's ninth home run with Kevin Mench aboard gave Toronto a 3-2 lead. Marco Scutaro hit a solo blast in the first and scored three times in the contest, with Vernon Wells connecting on his 17th home run in the ninth. The Toronto Blue Jays celebrate in the dugout after Scott Rolen's two-run blast in the fifth. (Charles Rex Abrogast/Associated Press)

Jesse Litsch (11-8) settled down after some trouble early on, allowing just six hits in seven innings. The Jays starter struck out six and walked two.

"We've got to keep it rolling," Litsch said. "We're in a race."

In the first game of the twinbill, Lyle Overbay continued his torrid hitting clip and A.J. Burnett hurled a gem to give the Blue Jays a 3-1 win. Overbay smacked a two-run double in the sixth and Joe Inglett added insurance with an RBI single in the ninth.

Burnett (17-10) threw hitless ball through five and gave up just one hit in seven innings of work.

"I wasn't thinking about it," he said of a no-hitter. "You see no hits up there, but you've got a long way to go, even if it's the sixth inning."

Toronto (78-66) is the hottest team in the majors, having won 10 straight.

Toronto ace Roy Halladay will get the call on Wednesday night as the Blue Jays can match a franchise record for consecutive wins, last accomplished in 1998.

The Blue Jays trail Boston by seven games in the American League wild-card race with 18 left to play and are just one back of the Minnesota Twins. The Red Sox lost to Tampa Bay 5-4 on Tuesday, while Minnesota drubbed Kansas City 7-2.

Scutaro hit his seventh off losing pitcher Clay Richard (2-4) to give Toronto the early lead in the nightcap.

Chicago's Dewayne Wise made a good defensive play in left to reel in John McDonald's shot to the gap in the second and then hit a double an inning later to move Orlando Cabrera, who had singled, to third.

Jermaine Dye then doubled to give Chicago a 2-1 lead, giving the right-fielder 85 runs batted in on the season.

The Blue Jays regained the lead in the fifth when third baseman Rolen crushed a Richard offering to left for a 3-2 score.

Richard departed two batters later. Alex Rios singled off D.J. Carrasco to bring McDonald home, but got caught in a rundown rounding first — a play in which first baseman Paul Konerko suffered a mildly sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee.

"I felt that knee cave inward and kind of click in there, a couple clicks further than it probably should go," Konerko said. "It put me down right away.

"It scared me more than anything. It hurt, but the pain went away."

Konerko had provided much of Chicago's offence of late, hitting three home runs in his previous four games.

Rios has been just as impressive. He went 3-for-5 on Tuesday night with a pair of RBIs, extending his hitting streak to 10 games.

Wells then got to Carrasco with a double that scored Scutaro for a 5-2 lead. McDonald and Rios then knocked in runs in the seventh and eighth, respectively, to pad the lead.

Jesse Carlson and Brandon League pitched scoreless relief for Toronto.

Burnett settles down after 1st game miscues

In the matinee, there was a spot of trouble for Burnett to begin the third after he hit Alexei Ramirez and made an error on Nick Swisher's dribbler.

Burnett settled down to strike out Juan Uribe and Cabrera, with A.J. Pierzynski grounding out to end the inning. Lyle Overbay has driven in eight runs during his seven-game hitting streak. (Charles Rex Abrogast/Associated Press)

The Blue Jays jumped out 2-0 in the sixth. Wells and Adam Lind hit safely, with Overbay bringing them both across with his 31st double of the season.

Overbay has hit in 22 of his last 63 at bats (.349), with five home runs and 16 runs batted in during that span of 17 games.

Chicago shortstop Cabrera led off the sixth with a single and was forced out at second on Pierzynski's bunt. Pierzynski eventually scored on Jim Thome's sacrifice fly.

Burnett ended his outing by striking out Uribe to end the seventh with a man on second. The right-hander won for the first time in four starts and pushed his AL-leading strikeout total to 208 by fanning seven batters.

Blue Jays shortstop John McDonald had an uncharacteristic line in the matinee, making two errors. He made amends in the eighth with Scott Downs pitching and two runners on, combining with Joe Inglett for a double play that ended the inning.

Toronto got an extra run of insurance in the top of the ninth when Rod Barajas, Travis Snider and Inglett hit consecutive singles. Closer B.J. Ryan, who blew a save opportunity on Saturday, walked his first two batters before striking out two of the next three batters for his 28th save.

Chicago (80-64) leads Minnesota by just one game in the AL Central. The White Sox managed just two hits in the first game.

The Blue Jays have won eight of their past 11 road games. Toronto has taken seven straight against Chicago dating back to last season.

Toronto is 43-27 since Cito Gaston replaced John Gibbons as manager, a winning percentage of .623.

With files from the Canadian Press