ARLINGTON, Texas — One could forgive some suspected hyperbole from Blake Beavan after he guessed he'd witnessed "thousands" of games at this ballpark while growing up.

It might have sometimes felt like thousands for the present-day Mariners starting pitcher, who was raised a 15-minute car ride away in nearby Irving and attended plenty of drawn-out slugfests engaged in by the hometown Texas Rangers in sweltering heat. But safe to say, there's a good chance Beavan wasn't around to witness one of the rare 1-0 contests played here, such as the one Tuesday night in which his team managed only four hits and fell just short.

Beavan pitched his heart out, trying to focus and block out the dozens of friends and family on hand to see him fulfill a childhood dream in his backyard. But with former Rangers closer Neftali Feliz fulfilling a dream of his own by starting in the majors for the first time, Beavan's best efforts weren't enough.

"Games like that are fun," Beavan said after scattering six hits and striking out four over 6-1/3 innings. "Because you know that one pitch can make the difference."

And the 10th 1-0 game in the 20-year history of Rangers Ballpark, played in front of 25,753 fans, came down to one pitch. It was a wild one from Beavan that catcher Miguel Olivo could not completely block in the dirt, allowing Michael Young to advance from second to third base with two out in the second inning.

Young then scored on an infield single by David Murphy that a diving Munenori Kawasaki could only knock down deep in the hole at shortstop. There is no way Young would have scored had he still been on second.

But in fairness to Beavan, Young probably should not have been on second to begin with. Adrian Beltre had been on second when Beavan reached out and snagged a hard shot up the middle by Young.

Beltre was hung up dead-to-rights between second and third. Rather than give up, he did an admirable job sprinting back and forth while third baseman Kyle Seager and second baseman Dustin Ackley tried to run him down.

It took so long that Young was able to advance to second on the play.

Mariners manager Eric Wedge said Seager's lack of experience at third base showed.

"He just has to run him back (to second) a little bit further," Wedge said. "He gave up the ball a little too quickly. Then, when you get the ball coming back there to third base, that's when the runner's going to have a chance to make it to second. And that's what happened."

It was the only sequence where the Mariners paid for failing to execute in the field. There was an errant toss back toward the infield by Michael Saunders in the fifth inning that sent Murphy to third with one out after a double.

But Beavan pitched out of that jam by getting pop-outs from Mike Napoli and Mitch Moreland. Beavan hadn't pitched in nine days since an April 1 spring training start against the Royals and endured another long layoff because of the team's trip to Japan.

"He responded great," Wedge said. "You look at the way he moved his fastball around. His secondary pitches. I felt like he pitched real smart, mixed them in like he needed to and did a good job of keeping them off-balance for the most part."

But Feliz was up to the task as well. Beavan's former Class A teammate with the Rangers had held the Mariners to an 0-for-58 lifetime stretch batting against him until Justin Smoak lined a single to center in the fourth inning.

Smoak also singled in the seventh to put two on. But Michael Saunders hit into a fielder's choice and then Feliz — after bobbling a grounder — barely threw out a diving Olivo at first base on his final play of the night.

"He did a good job of getting ahead of hitters and putting us into some tough spots," said Seager, held hitless after coming in 7 for 16 (.438) with three hits in the series opener Monday. "He threw me a couple of sliders last year that he could get over for a strike, but I'd never seen his changeup before and he threw quite a bit of those to me tonight."

As for Beavan, he left with two on and one out in the seventh after hitting Napoli on the front corner of his batting helmet with a pitch.

Napoli brushed himself off and stayed in after a frightening moment or two. Tom Wilhelmsen came on and retired the side and pitched a scoreless eighth.

Beavan praised his teammates for helping him keep things so close on his special day.

"All day, my stomach was queasy," he said. "I could tell it wasn't any other game for me because, for me growing up here, watching these games, it's something I've dreamed of doing. Stepping out on that mound. It was a dream come true for me."

Not a dream ending for his team. But for Beavan, a step in the right direction.

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com. On Twitter @gbakermariners.