TORONTO -- Here’s how Alex Cora described the Red Sox’s recent offensive struggles before the series opener at Rogers Centre:

“It’s like Baskin Robbins -- there’s a lot of flavors right now.”

His team then went ahead and put that wide array of problems to bed, taking three scoops of the same flavor and riding it all the way to a skid-snapping 5-0 win over the Blue Jays on Friday night.

Justin Turner, Jarren Duran and Masataka Yoshida homered in the much-needed offensive surge, which put Boston back in the win column after five straight losses. The victory also furthered the Red Sox’s run of dominance over Toronto this season, as the visitors improved to 5-0 against their AL East opponents.

“It was a good night,” Cora said after the game. “We did some good things, and we needed this one.”

It took a bit for the good times to start rolling.

The Red Sox needed four innings to figure out José Berríos, who traded zeros with Canadian lefty James Paxton until Turner finally popped the lid open with a solo homer in the top of the fifth. He had to work for it, too, grinding out a nine-pitch at-bat in which he fouled off four straight offerings before unloading on a 3-2 sinker that hung over the zone.

That paved the way for the following inning, when Duran added a two-run blast and Yoshida launched a solo homer that traveled a Statcast-projected 444 feet to right-center field.

“We were joking with him: indoors, turf … he’s back home,” Cora said of the Japanese-native Yoshida’s success at Rogers Centre. “He knows the environment. But I’m glad that he’s with us and not here.”

Those long balls accounted for three of Boston’s nine hits on the night, but that number could have been higher given the amount of long, loud outs the team had in the outing. But no one in that clubhouse is arguing with a good thing.

“You can't get too greedy, especially with this game,” Duran said. “Because once you get greedy, it’ll smack you in the face and make you go for 0-for-4 with four punchies. So I think we're just happy with what we're doing, putting really good swings on the ball.”

The Red Sox have good reason to be happy with what they did in the opener, and this will go down as an undeniable positive for a lineup that has struggled to find consistency all season.

During that five-game skid against the White Sox and the Marlins, Boston posted a .211 average with a .546 OPS while being outscored 27-8. Countering that stretch with a shutout on the road against a division opponent may serve as a pivotal shot in the arm for this team.

It may also be a reminder of what the ceiling truly is as the Red Sox prepare for the challenges ahead.

“Baseball's hard, you know,” Duran said. “You go to those grinding moments. I'm just happy that we came together and stayed together.”

What the offense provided was more than enough to support a brilliant start by Paxton, who pitched 7 2/3 innings of scoreless ball in his home country. More than a bounce back, this was a durability statement for Paxton, who had been lifted from his previous start after four innings due to right knee soreness.

“Once we got going, I wasn’t thinking about [my knee], I was just focused,” Paxton said. “There were a couple of times when I felt it, but it didn't stay. So that was good, and we'll continue making progress with it.”

Paxton pitched with a brace for the first time this season, saying that it helped with potential discomfort. There was still some concern ahead of the outing, especially given Paxton’s history with injuries, but Cora trusted the veteran pitcher to be open and respect his own limitations.

“He worked hard during the week just to be able to make a start, and it paid off,” Cora said. “He’s very honest. Throughout the whole process, the rehab, he was honest with us as far as how he was feeling. I don't think he's going to take a chance with everything that has happened in the last few years. When he said he was ready to go, he was ready to go. He did an amazing job."

The 34-year-old Paxton struck out seven batters, holding the Blue Jays to three hits and two walks in the outing and putting a damper on home fans’ early celebrations on the eve of Canada Day.