MIAMI -- Jordan Yamamoto kept the Marlins in the game, with his best start in almost a month. Neil Walker forced extra innings with his two-run single in a three-run ninth inning. And then Harold Ramirez delivered the decisive blow, a walk-off homer in the 12th inning to lift them to a 5-4 win over the Twins on Thursday afternoon at Marlins Park.

Ramirez put an end to an improbable comeback victory, in a game that lasted four hours and 14 minutes. Miami's third walk-off win of the season salvaged the series finale and wrapped up a 4-3 homestand.

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Minnesota has become a playoff-caliber club, and it is seeing big results from its building process. Miami is aiming to model its franchise in a similar way.

“All I can say is, they've got a lot of good, young players,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “They remind me of Tampa. A team that up and down the lineup, they've got good players. They might not all be household names at this point. But when you're trying to get them out, there's a lot of good players there.

“I don't know if it's a blueprint to have success. But it is a key to have a lot of good players.”

It took a complete effort for the Marlins to trip up an explosive Twins lineup. Miami’s bullpen threw six scoreless innings, two of which belonged to Jeff Brigham, who got the best of a 14-pitch showdown with Max Kepler in the 12th inning, to set up Ramirez’s walk-off heroics.

“That's my priority right now, to attack and see what my stuff can do in the zone,” Brigham said. “It doesn't do a lot when I'm throwing a lot of balls up there. That battle with Kepler was a lot of fun. It kind of wore me out. I felt like I made some good pitches and he made some good swings on it.”

Mattingly noted there will be bullpen chances now that the Marlins dealt three relievers in the past week -- Sergio Romo to the Twins, and Nick Anderson and Trevor Richards to the Rays.

“Any time you get an opportunity to get off the mound in these games, you've got to take advantage of it,” Brigham said after his first big league win. “I know these guys will.”

Ramirez led off the 12th with the homer off Cody Stashak.

“I really just tried to get on base,” Ramirez said. “I didn't try to do too much, because we needed somebody to get on base.”

For the second game, the Marlins mounted a ninth-inning rally, and in both games, they got the Twins' closer into the game despite facing deficits.

Miami trailed 4-1 entering its last at-bat. It made things interesting off Sam Dyson, closing within two on Jon Berti’s RBI double. Taylor Rogers entered, and Walker dribbled a two-run single to center to tie the game.

Rogers, however, logged three strikeouts, stranding the potential winning run on third. On Wednesday night, the Twins carried a seven-run lead into the ninth, and Brian Anderson hit a grand slam, getting Rogers into the game in which Minnesota prevailed, 7-4.

“Any time a closer goes three straight days, you're hoping there is a little bit of momentum on the offense's side,” Walker said. “A lot of times guys aren't prepared to do that, especially a day game after a night game.”

Miami needed Yamamoto to have an outing reminiscent of his first six starts -- where he gave up just six earned runs through 34 innings -- after losing one of its key starting pitchers in Zac Gallen in a trade to the D-backs for top prospect Jazz Chisholm.

While Yamamoto allowed four runs to a tough Minnesota lineup, he struck out eight through six innings, his longest stint since working six on July 5 at Atlanta.

Despite walking 22 batters on the season, the 23-year-old walked none to secure his first career no-walks game.

“It’s one of those things that I talk to my pitching coach [Mel Stottlemyre Jr.] right after the outing,” Yamamoto said. “It’s good that I faced the Dodgers, Braves, these guys. Only because for me, in my rookie year, it kind of tells me where I am as a pitcher and tells me where I need to be in the future.”