KANSAS CITY -- On June 27, 2012, exactly 10 years ago to the day, Martín Pérez made his Major League debut against the Tigers at the old Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. It was a short relief outing, just two-thirds of an inning, and the rookie surrendered four runs.

It wasn’t an ideal debut for a top-ranked prospect at the time, but Pérez was never worried. He was looking to the future, which would eventually lead to a 10-4 win over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium on Monday night.

“At that time, I expected to be here for a long time,” Pérez said. “I think when you do everything good, you’ve still got ups and downs but you're always fighting for something and you're striving to be a better pitcher and person. I think the team, they like to see that I do that. That's why I'm here. That's why they keep me here and they give me a ball every five days. To go out there and perform.”

Pérez’s maturity has been a hot topic all season long. It’s understandable, as the 31-year-old lefty is in his second stint with the Rangers, having spent the first seven years of his big league career with the club before stops with the Twins and Red Sox. But he’s looked back and openly acknowledged his own youth during those early years.

There were times he could’ve been better, he could’ve handled his emotions more effectively or even bounced back from a rough inning or two to regain his composure and battle through the rest of the game.

Monday night’s matchup with the Royals was a microcosm of that maturity coming to life. It wasn’t Pérez’s best outing by far, considering he has tossed a shutout and taken a perfect game into the seventh inning this season. But after allowing four runs on six hits in the first two innings, Pérez buckled down on Kansas City to allow just two more baserunners in his final four frames.

“Before, something goes wrong and I can’t control my emotions and we lose the game,” ​​Pérez said. “Now, I know the game is nine innings and 27 outs. So anything can happen and it doesn't matter how many runs they score, we just have to go out there and stop it. … It’s just not losing [my] focus.”

It wasn’t quite as methodical a performance as the Rangers are used to seeing out of Pérez this season, but it was enough to keep them in the game with an offensive surge on the other side. It also showcased Pérez’s mental and physical maturity as he made a number of mid-game adjustments going into the third inning to limit the Royals’ offense.

He didn’t allow a lot of hard contact early on, and the first three batted balls in the first inning came at exit velocities of 63.4 mph, 61.1 mph and 77.2 mph as Kansas City jumped out to an early 1-0 lead.

Pérez got hit a little harder in the second inning, when the Royals scored three more runs to tie the game, but he was able to get out of the inning and limit the damage.

He said that physically, he made the adjustment to start pitching them more inside and making the Royals' offense work hard to beat him on the inside corner.

“It happens in the game,” Pérez said. “They’re going to score runs. But I never lost my focus. Their approach I think was outside, so I just started throwing in more and I got my game plan back. I’m paying more attention to the hitters. If you throw the ball in where you want it, with conviction, it doesn’t matter [who the hitter is].”

Both Pérez and Rangers manager Chris Woodward noted that the situation would have been a frustrating one for any young or inexperienced pitcher, not just the past version of Pérez.

But that’s what makes veteran, top-of-the-rotation guys so important. Pérez has the ability to recognize how a team is attacking him and adjust on the fly to provide shutdown innings more often than not.

“That’s what good pitchers do,” Woodward said. “That's what aces do, and he's been doing that all year. But he righted the ship and honestly changed a little bit of how he was pitching those guys. He could see that they were doing certain things to him and that's one thing that separates Martín. … He's willing to make those adjustments.”