Angels draw smallest crowd since changing name to L.A.

The Angels played a rare 4 p.m. game Thursday, and they had their smallest crowd in 12 years.

The Angels sold 24,304 tickets to Thursday’s 2-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics. The Angels still wore Anaheim on their jerseys when they last had a smaller gathering -- 24,000, on May 21, 2003, when the opposing starters were Sidney Ponson and Aaron Sele.

Thursday’s game was the last in a four-game series. The other three games started at 7 p.m., with at least 30,000 tickets sold for each one.

Angels spokesman Tim Mead said the club agreed not to play a 7 p.m. game Thursday at the request of the A’s. Oakland concluded an 11-day trip Thursday, and so the A’s players could enjoy at least some family time Thursday night, before their homestand starts Friday night. Mead said the A’s had worked cooperatively with the Angels on scheduling other game times.

Once the Angels had agreed to a day game, they had to decide whether to start at 12:30 p.m. or 4 p.m. With school still in session, Mead said the 4 p.m. time appeared most logical.

The Angels have five more midweek day games scheduled, two at 4 p.m., one against the New York Yankees on July 1. But they also have a Sept. 30 date -- during the last week of the season -- at 4 p.m. against the A’s. If the Angels are out of the pennant race, attendance could be worse that day than it was on Thursday.