Angels in Trouble After First Pitch : Baseball: Mack opens game with a home run and Twins go on to win, 6-2.

It’s days like this that make the Minnesota Twins’ Tom Kelly look like a genius.

Chuck Knoblauch came down with a head cold and was scratched from the lineup half an hour before Sunday’s game against the Angels, so Kelly inserted Jeff Reboulet at second base and moved Shane Mack into the leadoff spot in the batting order.

Mack homered on the first pitch of the game and Reboulet drove in two runs in the seventh inning to help put away a 6-2 victory for the Twins.

“It worked out real well for the team,” Kelly said. “Mack hit the ball over the fence on the first pitch and got another double. And Reboulet had a great day. He advanced a runner from second to third. He got the base hit with two outs . . . and did well in the field.”

Mack’s homer, his 15th, was the fourth time this year he has led off the game with a home run.

“That helps out a lot,” said Scott Erickson (12-10), who pitched a six-hitter for his fifth complete game. “It gives you a cushion to work with. Any pitcher likes to see that.”

He walked two and struck out four to win his fourth consecutive decision.

“Any time you pitch good you always have a chance to win,” Kelly said. “Scottie certainly did that, he gave us a real good shot.”

Mack also doubled in the third inning, moved to third on Reboulet’s bunt and scored when Kirby Puckett grounded out to shortstop. Despite breaking his string of five consecutive hits on the play, Puckett reached 100 runs batted in for the second time in his career.

He had 121 RBIs in 1988, as well as 99 in ’87 and 96 in ’86.

Erickson has five complete games and three shutouts in his last 12 starts after going the first half of the season (17 starts) without either.

“He had shutout type of stuff today,” Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said. “We were fortunate to scratch out a couple runs.”

Julio Valera (7-10), who allowed eight hits in the loss, had won two consecutive decisions but only three of his last 14 starts.

In the five games Valera has pitched on artificial turf this year he is 0-4 with an 9.27 earned-run average.

With one out in the first and the Twins already ahead 1-0, Puckett blooped a single into right field. Chili Davis grounded to first baseman Lee Stevens, who tried to get Puckett at second but shortstop Gary DiSarcina couldn’t handle the throw for an error and the runners moved to second and third. Pedro Munoz grounded out to score Puckett and make the score 2-0.

The Angels got one in the second when Stevens singled, moved to second on a groundout and scored on DiSarcina’s single. The Angels scored again in the fifth when, trailing, 3-1, DiSarcina and John Orton hit consecutive singles. One out later, DiSarcina scored on Luis Polonia’s grounder.