TORONTO -- Amid all the hype surrounding Kevin Pillar’s highly anticipated return to the place he spent his entire career before joining the Giants was an offensive outburst for the visiting squad at Rogers Centre.

In Tuesday night’s 7-6 win over the Blue Jays, San Francisco had 10 hits, seven runs and four home runs, including the first of the season for Joe Panik and Pablo Sandoval. And after a video tribute to Pillar before the bottom half of the first inning, Panik looked to the scoreboard at Rogers Centre again in the fifth, and was met with a less-than-enjoyable statistic that he shattered one pitch later.

The scoreboard note shared that the second baseman “Has not homered since June 30, 2018. A span of [241] at-bats, which is the longest of his Major League career.” Panik then launched the second pitch of the plate appearance 414 feet into the stands.

“That was perfect timing,” he said. “I felt good today, swinging. And I never really peek up at the scoreboard, but for some reason I was just in my swing and because they always have a fun fact, I looked and I thought, ‘Huh. OK, yeah, that one is not a fun fact. But all right, thanks for letting me know.’”

Though Panik isn’t lauded for being a power hitter, he did feel a little bit of a weight off his shoulders after getting his first one of the season out of the way. He added a double in the winning effort, and drove in three runs in the matchup.

“It feels good,” Panik said. “I did some early work today and made some adjustments, and today the work kind of all paid off. It felt good, I got some good swings, and hopefully I’ll get on a roll now.”

Sandoval added his homer in the eighth inning as part of a three-hit day for the designated hitter. Brandon Belt and Evan Longoria also each homered. The team had just 16 homers in its first 23 games.

“It’s going to do a lot for their confidence,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of the team’s offensive outburst. “It starts to weigh on you a little bit when you haven’t hit a home run. In fact, I looked up on the scoreboard and they mentioned how long it’s been since Panik hit one, and he hit one in that at-bat. And he saw it, he read it.

“Pablo, it’s a matter of time, but still it’s good to get that one out of the way, so you don’t feel that little added pressure. We’re not the type of club to hit a lot of home runs, but we’ll hit more than what we’ve hit to this point.”

Offering support

Entering play on Wednesday, San Francisco’s pitching staff owns the fourth lowest ERA in the Majors at 3.34, the third fewest walks at 63 and the sixth lowest opponents’ average at .227. Those numbers were inflated by Tuesday’s game, but the offense took a much-needed step forward to secure the victory.

“It’s nice having four homers, seeing the guys drive the ball a little bit,” Panik said. “Our pitching staff has been so good our first 23 games, so it’s nice to give them a few runs to work with, and we needed it. They’ve done so well, so it was nice for the offense to actually do some work for them.”

Added Pillar: “It’s a step in the right direction. Our pitchers have kept us in games, games that we haven’t even won. … Those are the guys that have been carrying us thus far in the season and it’s nice to be able to say we won a game offensively for once.”

Parra reaches milestone

Gerardo Parra achieved a career milestone on Tuesday night against the Blue Jays, reaching 10 years of Major League service time. The outfielder’s accomplishment was honored in a private clubhouse ceremony ahead of Wednesday’s game. The 31-year-old native of Venezuela has also played for Arizona, Milwaukee, Baltimore and Colorado in his career. 

Sacramento woes

The Giants announced on Monday that Andrew Suarez, who sustained a Grade 1 left hamstring strain in his last start at Triple-A Sacramento, is expected to be out for the next two weeks. Suarez was 2-1 with a 5.89 ERA over four starts and 18 1/3 innings at the time of his injury. He and reliever Ray Black -- out with a pronator strain -- are currently on the Triple-A injured list.

Quotable

“Canadians can play some ball too. They’re not just hockey players.” -- Panik said of watching his brother, Paul, spend his collegiate playing career and early coaching days just across the border from Toronto at Canisius College in Buffalo, on a roster made up of half Canadian players, and under a Canadian head coach.