The Twins on Tuesday announced a special $5 ticket offer for select seats at all remaining home games in May, and by Wednesday afternoon the tickets were sold out.

There were 20,000 seats available at that price starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, and the offer was to expire Thursday at 10 p.m. But the seats were sold out by 2 p.m. Wednesday.

The team on Wednesday afternoon responded, making more $5 tickets available via the Twins website. Until the Thursday night deadline, a new set of "ballpark access" tickets are available. That option provides fans entry into Target Field but does not include a seat.

The first lot of tickets were available for seats in the home run porch and grandstand seating areas.

The Twins have 12 home games the rest of the month. They will host the Detroit Tigers this weekend and Chicago White Sox (May 24-26), while also welcoming Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Angels to Target Field on May 13-15. The Twins conclude their home May slate with the annual Border Battle interleague series against the Milwaukee Brewers (May 27-28).

This ticket sale effort, the familiar opponents and better weather should help the Twins' attendance numbers.

In 14 home dates through the end of April – including three in March when the Twins opened at Target Field – the Twins averaged just 17,007 fans. That was down from the 21,072 they averaged through April of 2018, and the 19.3 percent decrease in attendance from last year to this year through April represents the second-biggest percentage decline in the majors behind Toronto.

The seven smallest crowds in Target Field history all came in the first 14 home games this season, including an April 30 announced crowd (tickets sold) of 12,181 that featured far fewer fans in the actual stands.

STAFF REPORTS