Boston's major league-best 10th shutout improved its record in one-run games to 12-16 (10-2 at home).
With Ramírez hitting .182 in his previous 21 games, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire decided to pitch to Ramírez in the eighth with Dustin Pedroia, who doubled leading off the bottom of the inning, on third base with one out and first base open.
"How's Manny been doing lately?" asked Gardenhire. "We'll take our chances. He's a great hitter, but you don't want to walk him and get to the next guy. Keep putting more people on base in this ballpark, I don't think that's too wise, either. Manny, Lowell, and then Youkilis, pick your poison. Manny's been struggling a little bit."
Pedroia extended his hitting streak to a career-high 15 games with a double high off the wall down the left-field line, igniting the winning rally on what had been a frustrating night for Sox batters against Twins starter Scott Baker, who pitched seven shutout innings before giving way to Brian Bass.
Ramírez was aggressive in his at-bat against Bass, the opposite of the bat-on-the-shoulder approach he took against Rivera the night before as a pinch hitter. He was down against Bass, 0 and 2, before evening the count. In his usual manner, he went with the outside pitch and sent it into right field through a drawn-in infield, driving in Pedroia.
Even Mike Lowell, who was on-deck, wasn't surprised about the decision to pitch to Ramírez. "Manny hasn't been tearing the cover off the ball, and especially because there's a monster coming up behind him," the third baseman kidded.
Sox manager Terry Francona was just happy to see someone come up with a big hit at the right time.
"I didn't care who it was, just push a run across and make it stand, but it was great," said Francona. "We needed something, anything, so we can leave here on a night with a little frustration offensively, but we got a win."
