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Red Sox 8, Twins 7

Hanley Ramirez, Rick Porcello power Red Sox

Hanley Ramirez watches his three-run shot go over the Monster in the third inning.Jim Davis/Globe Staff

When Dave Dombrowski took over as president of baseball operations of the wayward Red Sox last August, Rick Porcello and Hanley Ramirez represented two of the biggest problems he had to solve.

Porcello had a 5.81 earned run average at the time and was on the disabled list. Ramirez was a miscast and recalcitrant left fielder going through the worst offensive season of his career.

That both players had large, immovable contracts only made the situation worse.

Not quite a year later, the Red Sox are positioned well to make the playoffs with Porcello and Ramirez playing vital roles.

“Baseball can change fast,” Ramirez said. “This team is proof of that.”

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Ramirez belted a three-run homer and Porcello pitched effectively into the seventh inning on Sunday as the Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-7.

Ramirez has hit five home runs and driven in 12 runs the last five games. Porcello improved to 13-2, 10-0 at Fenway Park. His ERA is 3.57.

On a day when Mookie Betts sat out with a sore right knee and David Ortiz was given a day off, the Sox were able to salvage a series split with the Twins. They have won six of nine since the All-Star break and start a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers on Monday.

Travis Shaw also had a three-run homer and Dustin Pedroia a solo shot for the Sox before a sellout crowd of 36,806. They remain 1½ games out of first place.

Porcello was charged with five runs (four earned) over 6⅔ innings. But he pitched far better than that would indicate, defensive mistakes giving the Twins several opportunities they should not have had.

“That’s baseball. Over the course of 162 games, certain things will happen,” Porcello said. “You keep battling and keep doing your job.”

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That attitude is what has impressed manager John Farrell. Since coming off the disabled last Aug. 26, Porcello is 17-6 with a 3.44 ERA in 28 starts.

“It’s not a surprise,” Farrell said. “Because of the way he prepares, the way he has shown competitive fire on the mound [and] the way he doesn’t give in particular spots and certain situations. He’s been a constant. There’s so much talk about dependability and reliability with guys. He embodies that.”

The three home runs, all off Twins starter Tommy Milone, gave the Sox an 8-3 lead after five innings.

Ramirez connected in the third inning with the Sox down, 2-0. The rocket to left-center was his 13th of the season.

Ramirez also has played well at first base. But in eight games as the designated hitter this year, he is 12 of 33 (.364) with three doubles, a triple, two home runs, and 11 RBIs.

Ramirez’s production as the DH has allowed the Sox to remain successful even when Ortiz rests. They are 6-1 in games Ortiz does not play, averaging 8.6 runs.

“The first thing was to give David a whole day off,” Ramirez said. “He needs it. That was huge for us and for him.”

The Twins’ Kennys Vargas started the seventh inning with a double. With one out, Juan Centeno hit a routine fly ball to right field for what should have been the second out.

Brock Holt, in right field replacing Betts, had the ball in his glove and dropped it. It was ruled a double. Byron Buxton followed with a two-run single.

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“I had it, I called for it, and then I lost it in the sun,” Holt said. “Tough play.”

Matt Barnes, one of the team’s best relievers in recent weeks, loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth. Junichi Tazawa inherited a mess but was able to at least hold the lead.

Vargas had a sacrifice fly and Centeno an RBI single before Tazawa struck out Buxton swinging on a full-count splitter to end the inning.

Brad Ziegler got the final three outs, striking out two. In six games since being acquired from the Diamondbacks, Ziegler has faced 20 hitters and retired 18. He has thrown 49 of 68 pitches for strikes.

With Craig Kimbrel and Koji Uehara on the disabled list, Ziegler has kept the bullpen viable in the late innings.

“He’s been a godsend to be honest,” Farrell said.

Ziegler, the son of a minister, wasn’t quite ready to go that far.

“Gosh, I wouldn’t say that about myself,” he said. “The last couple of days, the bullpen has been taxed a little bit. Guys have given it everything they have.”

Ziegler was with a last-place team in Arizona, playing out the final year of his contract. The trade has revitalized him.

“It’s definitely a different atmosphere,” he said. “It’s fun to be on a team that, basically, when you show up to the park you expect to win. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing. It doesn’t matter what stadium you’re in.”

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Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.