Norwich - The home clubhouse at Dodd Stadium is always a little more lively after a win.

On Tuesday night, the Connecticut Tigers were playing Latin music late into the night after their 2-1 win in 11 innings over the Aberdeen IronBirds had a distinctly Latin feel to it.

Eighteen-year-old Dixon Machado, playing in just the second New York-Penn League game of his career, hustled down the first-base line with two outs to beat out a ball that was ruled an error on Aberdeen second baseman Mychael Givens to score Alexander Nunez with the game-winning run in front of the remnants of a crowd of 909.

Clemente Mendoza pitched eight shutout innings, allowing just two hits with five strikeouts and two walks, and Nunez hit a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings.

The win moved the Tigers (35-35) a half-game out of first place in the Stedler Division after Vermont was swept by Brooklyn and Tri-City defeated Lowell.

The division winner will earn a berth in the playoffs, and with just five regular-season games left, Connecticut has kept itself squarely in the race.

"We're just trying to win games," said Mendoza, a native of Venezuela, also the home country of Machado. "It doesn't matter if I get a win. I just want to make the playoffs and help the team win."

Mendoza has become the unquestionable ace of the team.

"He's a professional pitcher," Tigers manager Howard Bushong said. "His stuff doesn't knock you over, but he knows how to pitch. He locates, he holds runners on and he has done nothing but gotten better. I trust every time he's out there that we have a chance to win."

The game was scoreless into the ninth before Aberdeen took a 1-0 lead courtesy of Manny Machado's RBI double.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Nunez, who hails from the Dominican Republic, hit his second home run of the season to left-center to tie the game.

The Tigers still have trouble with runners in scoring position, stranding at least one runner there in each inning from the second to the sixth. They also had a leadoff runner picked off first base in the 10th and another caught stealing in the same inning.

"Offensively, we struggled," said Bushong. "We didn't answer very well, but the resiliency of these kids, they just never quit."

Dixon Machado made a two-run error at shortstop in his first game with the team on Monday and Aberdeen intentionally walked Matt Perry in front of him just prior to the game-winning play on Tuesday.

"He adds a little something to us," Bushong said. "We've seen him since extended spring training and he's a solid player. This kid is 18 years old and (Monday) was his first game in front of crowds. That's a growing-up experience for him."

Nunez finished 3-for-5, while Josh Ashenbrenner had two hits for the Tigers.

The Tigers finish their home schedule with games today and Thursday against the IronBirds (both at 7:05 p.m.).

o.poole@theday.com