TORONTO -- It’s only been a few weeks since Kevin Pillar left Toronto, but his homecoming was highly anticipated by fans, friends and former teammates. It was a victorious one for the Giants, as they held off a late rally from the Blue Jays to win, 7-6, on Tuesday night at Rogers Centre.

Selected by the Blue Jays in 2011 as a 32nd-round Draft pick from Division II Cal State University, Dominguez Hills, Toronto was the first and only organization that took a chance on Pillar, a place where he spent parts of nine seasons -- parts of seven in the Majors -- until his baseball world was turned on its head with the April 2 trade.

“This is the only place I’d ever known; this is the place I wanted to be at, and then that’s kind of all taken away from you in a matter of seconds,” Pillar said. “By the time I hang up the phone, my whole world, my whole life was flipped upside down. I was getting into something for the first time. There was so much unknown joining a new team, joining a new league, leaving a place that I was very comfortable.”

The outfielder looked comfortable back in his old digs on Tuesday night, driving in the first run of the game in the second inning and scoring just one batter later to help his team to an early lead.

“I’m a hopeless romantic,” Pillar said. “The stars kind of aligned in that first at-bat -- you get an opportunity to go out there with runners in scoring position in a tie game, and you come up with a big hit. And I was able to come around to score on a double and showcase -- obviously they know what I bring to the table -- but really get to use my skill set out there and help our team get a win.”

Toronto fans paid tribute to Pillar -- the longest-tenured Blue Jay at the time of his departure -- with a standing ovation when he first came out to the field to warm up. The organization played a tribute video to Pillar as he took the field for the bottom of the first inning, as both sides watched.

"The guys were clapping for him," Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. "KP is a great guy. I got to know him in Spring Training and the two weeks that he was here. He's a great guy. He deserved what he got. That was pretty cool."

Fans also applauded when Pillar came to the plate for the first time in a San Francisco uniform, after batting .260 with 55 home runs, 156 doubles, seven triples, 231 RBIs and 69 stolen bases in 695 games for Toronto, not to mention highlight-reel catches night after night. Twice, Pillar tipped his cap in response.

“The fans here did a really good job of looking past just the numbers that I put up on the field, but the fact that I went out there and played the game hard, a lot of times hurt -- it was just a nice way to know that they still care and they appreciate what I brought every single day,” Pillar said.

“I’m a pretty emotional guy, so I held back some tears today and I tried to really focus on what I needed to do. In some ways, I think that helped me for my first at-bat. I got a lot of those emotions out.”

For Pillar to get things started at the plate on a night where the Giants' offense came to life -- with four home runs, including the first of the season for both Joe Panik and Pablo Sandoval -- was a celebratory moment for not only him, but his team.

“Great for him,” San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. “They really acknowledged him when he went out to center field, when he went to hit, and he jump-started us. It couldn’t have really been a better night than what he had.

“I know he did so much here, and this shows you the type of player he is, how he plays the game and how much he was appreciated when he played here. The fans love him, as they should, because he plays the game the way you want your guys to play -- full throttle, all out -- so good for him to get it started with that base hit.”

When the trade happened, the 30-year-old California native was unsure of what to think. But right away, Pillar got a chance to play in front of family and friends in Los Angeles, at a ballpark where his love for the game grew, all the while knowing he would be returning north of the border after just a few weeks away.

“It was something that happened to me for the first time in my career,” Pillar said. “In some ways, it was kind of a fairy-tale ending, or a fairy-tale beginning for me -- getting to go back and play in Dodger Stadium, a place I grew up watching a lot of games. … But coming back here is definitely an emotional time for me.

“Tomorrow’s probably going to be in some ways more difficult, knowing that it’s my last time playing here for the foreseeable future. So that’s going to be tough, as well.”