NERD Game Scores for Thursday, May 28, 2015

Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Games
Boston (Rodriguez) at Texas (Martinez) | 20:05 ET
Detroit (Farmer) at Los Angeles AL (Wilson) | 22:05 ET
Tonight offers two games featuring some manner of notable debut. Scheduled to start for the Red Sox in Texas — and to record his first major-league appearance in the process — is left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez. Acquired from Baltimore at last year’s trade deadline, Rodriguez was ranked second among Boston prospects by Kiley McDaniel this offseason and 23rd among all prospects. So far this season, he’s parlayed his plus fastball into strikeout and walk rates of 23.2% and 3.7%, respectively, for Triple-A Pawtucket.

Detroit right-hander Buck Farmer has produced a nearly identical strikeout rate against those same International League batters perhaps by means of his plus fastball but certainly by way of an impressive changeup such as the one featured in the footage below. The 24-year-old Farmer, for whom today represents his season debut in the majors, was ranked third among Tigers prospects by Kiley McDaniel this offseason. He’s also appeared on multiple occasions within the author’s Fringe Five column this year.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Texas Radio and Detroit Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Promised Footage: Buck Farmer’s Changeup
Here, as promised above, is slow-motion footage of Buck Farmer’s changeup — in the service, here, of striking out Red Sox prospect Travis Shaw earlier this season:

Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Tigers and Angels clubs discussed above, and can be accessed by means of this hyperlinked text.

Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete and very sortable table for all of today’s games. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and also the rest of the internet. Note that the calculations both for team and game NERD scores have changed recently to better integrate playoff odds into same. Read more about those changes here, if you’re the sort of person accustomed to making poor life decisions.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Chris Sale	CHA	10	0	6	4	6	BAL	Tyler Wilson*	13:05
Chris Beck*	CHA	5	0	4	4	6	BAL	Mike Wright	Gm2
Ed.o Rodriguez*	BOS	15	4	7	4	3	TEX	Nick Martinez	20:05
Buck Farmer*	DET	13	6	7	5	3	LAA	C.J. Wilson	22:05
CC Sabathia	NYA	7	6	5	5	2	OAK	Kend’ll Graveman	22:05
Corey Kluber	CLE	10	7	7	7	4	SEA	James Paxton	22:10
A.J. Burnett	PIT	5	7	5	3	5	SD	Ian Kennedy	22:10
Shelby Miller	ATL	7	2	5	5	6	SF	Chris Heston	22:15

* = Fewer than 10 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.