June 30, 1963 - Financially, the Dodgers were a smashing success today as home attendance soared above the 1 million mark, but they flopped artistically as Tony Cloninger of the Milwaukee Braves pitched a 2-hitter for a 7-0 victory over Los Angeles. The 22-year-old Cloninger retired 17 Dodgers in a row after Jim Gilliam singled in the first inning. Gilliam broke the string when he was hit by a pitched ball in the seventh. Ron Fairly got the only other hit in the eighth. Cloninger faced only 28 batters, as double plays erased the two men who singled off him. He also drove in one run with a single. Hank Aaron hit a homer, his 22nd, in the first with none on base. For the season, Aaron is batting .533 against the Dodgers, his 16 hits including 4 homers, a triple, and 3 doubles. Roy McMillan also homered for the Braves in the third, the ball trickling off Tommy Davis’s glove into the left-field seats. After the game, Cloninger laughingly denied trying to show up Warren Spahn. Spahn yielded just 3 hits in shutting out the Dodgers Friday night, 1-0. Incidentally, 22-year-old Cloninger was born the year (1940) that Spahn, now 42, began pitching pro baseball. “It was the best game of my life,” the North Carolina youth said. “My most effective pitch is the fastball — and it was going where I wanted it to.” Cloninger walked no one and threw only 93 pitches. Manager Bobby Bragan gave credit to coach Whit Wyatt for Cloninger’s recent success. “I started Tony a couple of times early in the season, but he didn’t do any good, so out to the bullpen he went,” Bragan said today. “The kid had been doing the no-windup trick, but Wyatt got him to pitching conventionally and also straightened out some other things. He’s been real good the last six games. Give credit to Wyatt.”
