ST. PETERSBURG -- J.P. Arencibia was behind the plate on Thursday afternoon to catch rookie right-hander Kyle Drabek for the first time this season.

Drabek exclusively threw to veteran catcher Jose Molina in his first six outings of the season. Blue Jays manager John Farrell decided to break up the pair against the Rays, though, in part because Molina started Wednesday night's game and the club wanted to avoid a quick turnaround for an afternoon game Thursday.

It's the first time Arencibia has caught Drabek during a regular season game, but the two did spend time working with each other during Spring Training. Arencibia said before the series finale he didn't think the lack of experience together was going to be an issue.

"That's my job to know the staff, and I feel like I have a strong understanding of the staff," Arencibia said. "Just because I'm not behind the plate on some of the starts guys have doesn't mean I don't know them, or that I have any doubt about what their stuff is. I know what they have."

Drabek was pressed into action Thursday afternoon after left-hander Ricky Romero was scratched with a mild left oblique strain.

That puts Brandon Morrow and Drabek -- two pitchers Molina worked with this season -- on back-to-back days. Farrell indicated that Arencibia likely will start catching one of those two pitchers unless there is a future change in the rotation.

That could end up increasing Arencibia's overall workload after he was accustomed to starting just three out of every five games for the club so far this season.

"That's not my decision about what they do from that standpoint," Arencibia said when asked if he was looking forward to increased playing time. "But obviously everyone wants to be an everyday guy, and I feel like I am an everyday player.

"If it's now, or at some point this year or the next year, but I feel like what I can bring at the plate is a guy that plays every day."

Arencibia entered Thursday's game hitting .260 with four home runs and nine RBIs in 19 games this season.

Romero on track to start Saturday for Blue Jays

ST. PETERSBURG -- Ricky Romero threw off flat ground Thursday morning to test his strained left oblique muscle and remains tentatively scheduled to start Saturday against Detroit.

Romero originally was in line to pitch the series finale against Tampa Bay, but he was scratched Wednesday night due to lingering soreness.

Toronto's No. 1 starter suffered the injury during his last start against the Yankees. The club believes it happened after Romero caught a line drive off the bat of Mark Teixeira.

Romero said he didn't know anything was wrong until he woke up the following morning with discomfort in his left oblique.

"During that game, you have so much adrenaline going and you don't really feel anything," said Romero, who allowed two earned runs over six innings in that outing. "I woke up with more sore spots than usual. I said something right away, but I didn't think anything of it, because I played long catch the following day.

"We were deep playing long catch and I felt great. It's the day of my 'pen I woke up and one throw just felt something on my left side, but like I said, we're being cautious with it."

That approach made the Blue Jays to push back Romero's scheduled outing by two days. It's not guaranteed Romero will be healthy enough to make that Saturday start, though, and the club will have to wait and see how he progresses over the next 48 hours.

"The good thing is my arm has been feeling great," Romero said. "Everything else feels good, and the only thing that worries you is obviously that oblique, and you never know with those things. But according to me, according to them, I should be good for Saturday and hopefully it continues to progress."

Blue Jays manager John Farrell said Romero informed the club he thought the pain was tolerable and could have started Thursday if necessary. The adjective Romero used to describe his condition was all Toronto needed to know in deciding to make the pitching change.

"It's disappointing -- obviously I'm a competitor and I want to be out there," Romero said.

"I know it's one start, but you almost feel like you let the team down, because I'm such a competitor and want to be out there."

Romero is 2-3 with a 3.00 ERA in six starts this season. All but one of his outings this year have been quality starts.

Blue Jays' Super Camps get three more stops

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Blue Jays have added three locations to their cross-Canada Honda Super Camps this summer.

The club will travel to Regina, Sask., Winnipeg, Man., and Quebec City, Que. That brings the total number of camps to 10, which will be located in seven different provinces across the country.

"The response to our initial seven camps has been overwhelming, and with the addition of these three camps, we are now able to bring Blue Jays baseball into more communities across Canada," said Blue Jays senior vice president of business operations Stephen Brooks.

"To be able to work with Baseball Canada in this regard is another significant step in our efforts to showcase this great game and reach out to as many youth as possible."

The amateur camps are being run for children aged 8-14. They will last three days and feature instruction from Blue Jays alumni and members of Baseball Canada.

The cross-Canada tour will also have stops in Vancouver, Prince George, London, Halifax, Ottawa, Calgary and Toronto. Registration is 75 percent full with the camps in Vancouver and Toronto already sold out.

Worth noting

• Blue Jays manager John Farrell was ejected for the first time in his managerial career during Wednesday night's game against Tampa Bay. It was a relatively low-key ejection which prompted a text message from his oldest son. "My oldest son texted me and said it was weak," Farrell said jokingly. "I agree with him."

• Jose Bautista is expected to start swinging the bat on Friday. He has been out of action since May 1 with neck tightness, but remains on schedule to likely return to the lineup this weekend. "It's really a day-to-day thing," Bautista said. "I might wake up tomorrow and feel real good and play Saturday, but we'll see how everything progresses. Realistically I think Sunday or Monday are targets."

• Second baseman Aaron Hill was set to receive his first rehab start for Class-A Dunedin on Thursday night. He is expected to be activated for Sunday's game against Detroit.