Another Brian Matusz start, another road game, the latest on Henry Urrutia

SARASOTA, Fla. - Left-hander Brian Matusz is making another start today for the Orioles after throwing three scoreless innings with no walks on March 14 against the Rays.

Matusz hasn't issued a walk in 6 1/3 innings this spring. He's allowed one run and five hits and struck out eight batters.

Whether he stays in the organization is another matter. The trade rumors continue to swirl.

I'll be at Twin Lakes Park today, where Kevin Gausman and Wei-Yin Chen are pitching in separate Single-A games. My colleague, Steve Melewski, will be in Fort Myers for the Grapefruit League game against the Red Sox.

The Orioles return to Fort Myers on Saturday for the third time in four days.

"This is probably the most challenging spring training schedule I've seen in a long, long time as far as the length, the road games and the people we are playing late in the spring," said manager Buck Showalter. "We're playing Tampa three times the last week before we open with them. Somebody ain't putting much thought into it."

Chris Tillman's schedule will be adjusted to keep his turns from falling on the days that the Orioles face the Rays, since they provide the opposition in the season-opening series at Tropicana Field.

Henry Urrutia is expected to make the trip to JetBlue Park today after hitting a tiebreaking home run yesterday in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Urrutia provided one of my favorite quotes of 2015 - yes, I know it's only March - when I asked whether he knew the ball was gone as soon as he hit it.

"Oh yeah, but I had to run," he said, smiling. "Boom, run, run. Remember what happened with Dariel (Alvarez) the other day? Flipped the bat.

"I went to the dugout and Showalter said, 'OK Henry, good job.' Don't flip any bats or nothing like that."

I've written how Urrutia is in excellent physical condition after spending most of his winter working out in Sarasota.

"The weight isn't that much more. It is some, but I think the definition is better," Showalter said.

"He's a happy guy. He's in a good place. When you think with him and Dariel (Alvarez), what's going on with Cuba in the last six months, it's a big deal. They're getting Internet and things over there that they're able to communicate now where they weren't. You can tell both of those guys are in a pretty good place emotionally."

Urrutia gave a lengthy interview in English yesterday outside the media workroom, only twice asking that a question be repeated so he could better understand it. I'm stunned by the improvement in his communication skills since the day he arrived in Florida in February 2013. I can't believe it's the same guy, and it hasn't happened by accident.

Urrutia works just as hard off the field as he does on it.

"I'm really impressed with how quick Henry's picked up the language," Showalter said. "It's really hard on the Cuban players because their ability to grasp it is the most challenging of all the Latin players in my experience. A lot of the Hispanic players can't understand them. It's real hard and Henry probably has picked it up faster than any Cuban player I've ever seen, and Dariel is light years behind him.

"I was talking to Tripp (Norton) today about trying to make sure we do everything possible to accelerate Dariel's language because there's things he's starting to pick up that I know it was a language barrier. He'd look at me and shake his head early in camp and I know by his actions that he didn't understand a word that we were saying. And he's a pleaser. He just wants to do what you want him to do.

"Dariel's a good kid. I'll tell you what, he's got my attention. He likes to play. He's a good one."

So is Urrutia. Make room for both of them in Triple-A Norfolk's outfield and see which one gets to Baltimore first.