SAN FRANCISCO — Without question, the Orioles must still play better on the road for wins like Sunday afternoon's 8-7 comeback triumph over the San Francisco Giants to matter. But throughout this team's sweeping peaks and valleys, Sunday's victory was a reminder of the resolve that playoff teams possess.

The road is where playoff series are won, and this weekend's series at AT&T Park had a postseason feel to it, playing against a legitimate World Series contender in front of sellout crowds for three straight days.

“Yeah, and the weather here in San Francisco in August kind of reminds us of October, too,” catcher Matt Wieters said of the Bay Area chill.

Whether the Orioles' comeback from a six-run, seventh-inning deficit Sunday afternoon builds momentum remains to be seen, but their moxie was evident. They were nine outs away from a long flight back to Baltimore, but for their second time, they ended a grueling road trip to the West Coast with one of their best wins of the season.

Again, second baseman Jonathan Schoop was front and center, just as he was on July 6 when he looped a two-run double into the Dodger Stadium outfield to decide a 14-inning marathon in Los Angeles, salvaging a similar road trip that had its share of warts.

This time, Schoop flexed his muscle. With the Orioles down to their last out in the top of the ninth, trailing by two, Schoop launched his 18th homer of the season — a three-run shot — into the left-field stands off Giants closer Santiago Casilla, sending a sellout crowd of 41,268 to the exits.

“Ooh, the feeling is amazing,” Schoop said. “I hit it good, but I see [Giants left fielder] Angel [Pagan] was going back. I said, ‘Please get out, ball, please go.' It went out. I'm happy big win for the team. I'm excited.”

Orioles players, leaning against the dugout railing, jumped ecstatically. Center fielder Adam Jones jumped onto the warning track and pumped his fist into the air. Third baseman Manny Machado welcomed his buddy Schoop with a shoulder shiver that took the 6-foot-3 Schoop off his feet.

Celebrations aside, the Orioles knew how important a win it was.

“It's big because that's a good ballclub over there and they're going to be in it come October,” Wieters said. “It was the type of game you're going to have to win going forward. And like I said, you need to win the games you should win and also come back and win some games you shouldn't. Schoopy hit a big home run that got us a game maybe we shouldn't have won. We'll take it and be happy flying home.”

The 24-year-old Schoop, who has played every out of all 117 games this season, has shown an uncommon penchant for late-inning heroics, as shown by his 12 game-inning RBIs, tied with Chris Davis for the team lead.

“I think Jon's been playing every game, every inning,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “He wants to get off the field. He controls that a little bit. Good things seem to follow him around. He's getting back out of the game what he's put into it. Jon doesn't cheat the game. It's good to see people who approach it that way get a return for it. You watch it in the clubhouse. Guys are sincerely happy for Jon when he does well.”

There was plenty to complain about early. Trade-deadline acquisition Wade Miley, who was battling illness, didn't get out of the fifth inning, and despite righting the ship later, rookie right-hander Tyler Wilson allowed all three inherited base runners to score.

But the Orioles offense — which went through long stretches without showing much life on this trip — chipped away at the Giants' lead with two runs in the seventh and another two in the eighth before Schoop's blast.

The game “can turn like that,” said Wieters, who had a career-high five hits. “They had their big inning and we were kind of able to put together a couple of multi-run innings and then got the big hit by Schoopy at the end.”

As the Orioles orchestrated their ninth-inning comeback, closer Zach Britton was warming up in the bullpen down the right-field line, knowing he'd seen this script play out before.

“I wouldn't say [it was] unlikely, not with our offense, not with our pitching, our bullpen especially,” Britton said. “We've been doing really well. Our whole mindset has always been: Give our offense a chance. If the game seems like it's out of reach early, as a bullpen come in, put some zeros on the board, and let those guys scrape away, and that's what we did. And the credit really goes to the hitters, though.

“It's easy on a day game, getaway game, for those guys to get frustrated with where the score was, and those guys put together some really, really good at-bats and clawed away and let Schoopy” hit, Britton said. “You play for that big home run, and we got it.”

The Orioles returned home Sunday night finishing just 5-5 on their three-city, 10-game road trip.

And they faced their challenges throughout. The Orioles lost their bats somewhere among the empty green seats of Oakland Alameda Coliseum, scoring just three runs in their first three games against the Athletics.

But in more of a playoff-type atmosphere, the Orioles took two of three against a Giants team that has struggled recently but must still be considered one of the National League's best.

Even on Sunday, the Orioles had moments of frustration. With the team trailing 7-5 with two on and one out, pinch hitter Steve Pearce just got under a pitch and flied out to deep left field, and Jones popped up to second base.

After today's day off, the Orioles will return to Camden Yards — where they are 22 games over .500 — for the next eight games. And even though the Orioles are still just 27-34 on the road, wins like Sunday's do a lot to test a team's postseason mettle.

“We want to go to September, and we want to go to the playoffs,” Schoop said. “This team fights every day, goes out there and plays hard, and trying to win as many games as possible to put us in a position for the last day of the season.”

eencina@baltsun.com

twitter.com/EddieInTheYard