MOOSIC — Adam Kloffenstein’s previous four starts were a bit rough. The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders righthander was 0-2 with two no-decisions and a 5.85 earned-run average.

However, Kloffenstein showed signs of turning things around Tuesday night. Although he didn’t get the decision in a 3-2 victory in the opening game of a six-game series with the Norfolk Tides at PNC Field, he showed positive signs of getting back on track.

“The thing that stood out more than anything with him was his ability when things got hairy to regroup and get focused,” RailRiders manager Shelley Duncan said. “That’s what you really want to see. It’s not so much the mistakes, the walks, but how you handle when you get out of your game and he did that.”

Perhaps Kloffenstein’s best start of the season came May 31 against the Worcester Red Sox at PNC Field. He tossed six shutout innings with three hits, no walks and a season-high 10 strikeouts — one off his career high — in a 1-0 victory.

Then came the four straight rough outings in which he gave up 17 runs (13 earned) and 21 hits in 20 innings, including five home runs, with 11 walks and 13 strikeouts.

But Tuesday, he allowed one run on two hits with three walks and five strikeouts in five innings. He threw 89 pitches (55 for strikes) and wriggled out of a pair of jams.

“There were a couple of situations where it could have gotten away from us. But I just felt better tonight all around,” said Kloffenstein, who is 2-5 with a 5.00 ERA in 15 starts. “I’ve been working hard with the coaching staff here, making mechanical adjustments. Obviously, I had a couple (starts) that I wasn’t super pleased with. You kind of go back and look and see what the problems are. We went back and made a couple adjustments mechanically and obviously some of that work paid off today. Couple balls went my way and made a couple big pitches when we needed to. Their guy was throwing really well also and you kind of feel that. You’ve got to keep the boys in the game. So definitely better and headed in the right direction.”

Tides starter Trace Bright hooked up in the pitchers’ duel with Kloffenstein, allowing one unearned run and four hits in six innings with no walks and five strikeouts.

Norfolk threatened against Kloffenstein in the top of the first Tuesday. Enrique Bradfield Jr. led off with a single, stole second and advanced to third on a groundout to first by Heston Kjerstad. But Kloffenstein left him there by getting Christian Encarnacion-Strand to pop out to second base, then striking out Creed Willems.

After a 1-2-3 second, Kloffenstein walked Mike Siani to start the top of the third. Luis Vazquez followed with a single, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double by center fielder Duke Ellis. Siani advanced to third on the play and scored on a fielder’s choice by Bradfield to tie the game at 1.

Another leadoff walk, to Willems in the fourth, put Kloffenstein in more potential trouble. He struck out Johnathan Rodriguez, but walked Ryan Noda. After getting Jose Barrero to fly out to left, he engaged in a 10-pitch battle with Siani — a former teammate with Memphis in the St. Louis organization as well as with the major league Cardinals in 2024. Siani fouled off six pitches in the at-bat before Kloffenstein struck him out on a 2-2 curveball. After he did, he gave a fist pump as he walked off the mound.

“The at-bat with Siani was fun,” Kloffenstein said. “I played with him some and we went at it tonight and it was fun. Regardless of (former) teammates or not, that was just a long at-bat. You enjoy those, but you don’t. They’re not good for your pitch count. I just kept throwing him everything I had, just trying to keep mixing. Looking at the report on him, there’s really not a ton of chase. So I’m trying to stay in the zone and not fall behind. When guys are putting up a fight, fighting, fighting, fighting, it’s easy to walk him. I was trying to stay out of that.

“That emotion was a few things. Used to play with him, long at-bat, but also that I didn’t turn that into a mess and kept being aggressive. It was definitely good to get out of that one. It was the third out, too. I just wanted to go sit down.”

Kloffenstein worked a perfect fifth inning before turning it over to the bullpen. Zach Messinger and Carson Coleman held the Tides to one run over the final four innings, while the RailRiders scored twice in the seventh inning without the benefit of a hit to earn the victory.

“This was my first game. Not sure how the pitching staff has been doing in the past,” said catcher J.C. Escarra, recently sent down by the New York Yankees. “But if today is anything like what they’ve been doing, or just better than what they’ve been doing, it’s great. The pitchers got out of tough situations. It was a close game all the way up there to the ninth, so I’m proud, and I like what I saw.”