NERD Game Scores for Wednesday, June 3, 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 Game
Minnesota at Boston | 13:35 ET
Hughes (64.2 IP, 106 xFIP-) vs. Rodriguez (7.2 IP, 75 xFIP-)
A combination of faux science and the author’s own discretion suggest that this afternoon’s Twins-Red Sox game is the most likely, objectively speaking, to facilitate baseball pleasure. Largely that’s because it’s also the most likely — among all today’s various contests — to feature Boston rookie Eduardo Rodriguez, which left-handed pitcher recorded a 7:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his debut last week at Texas while also sitting in the mid-90s. Eno Sarris provided some brief comments on Rodriguez’s impressive velocity after the latter’s impressive debut. Chris Mitchell, meanwhile, utilized his KATOH machine to examine some of Rodriguez’s historic comparables. As for the present author, he merely wrote a paragraph of limited utility, which the reader has just now completed.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Boston Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Debut Report: Joey Gallo, Texas
Young third baseman Joey Gallo, ranked first among Rangers prospect by Kiley McDaniel this offseason and 16th among all prospects, recorded his major-league debut yesterday. What else he recorded was a single, double, and not unimpressive home run, all of which are documented in the video below.

Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Pittsburgh at San Francisco, starts at 3:45 ET, 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
Phil Hughes	MIN	5	3	6	5	11	BOS	Ed.o Rodriguez*	13:35
Trevor May	MIN	7	3	5	5	5	BOS	Rick Porcello	19:10
Jimmy Nelson	MIL	6	3	5	5	4	STL	John Lackey	13:45
M. Foltynewicz	ATL	7	2	6	6	9	AZ	Ru. de la Rosa	15:40
Masa. Tanaka	NYA	5	7	6	6	7	SEA	Taijuan Walker	15:40
Francis. Liriano	PIT	9	7	6	5	4	SF	Tim Hudson	15:45
Mike Leake	CIN	4	5	4	0	6	PHI	Cole Hamels	19:05
Mark Buehrle	TOR	3	8	5	4	5	WAS	Taylor Jordan*	19:05
Sonny Gray	OAK	7	5	6	5	7	DET	Anibal Sanchez	19:08
Jon Lester	CHN	6	6	5	5	3	MIA	Dan Haren	19:10
Chris Sale	CHA	10	0	5	4	3	TEX	Nick Martinez	20:05
Mig. Gonzalez	BAL	4	5	6	10	7	HOU	Lance McCullers	20:10
Corey Kluber	CLE	10	8	6	7	1	KC	Jason Vargas	20:10
Mike Bolsinger	LAN	5	7	6	3	7	COL	Chad Bettis	20:10
Dillon Gee	NYN	7	5	6	3	8	SD	James Shields	21:10
Nate Karns	TB	4	5	5	7	3	LAA	Hector Santiago	22:05

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