Pittsburgh Pirates: Vince Velasquez in a Groove and More Takeaways From Series Victory in Washington D.C.

Vince Velasquez is in the best groove of his career, Johan Oviedo has a 1st inning problem, and more takeaways from the Pittsburgh Pirates capturing a series victory in Washington D.C. over the weekend

Every baseball team would love to sweep series. Especially when you're a good baseball team playing a bad baseball team. While the Pittsburgh Pirates failed to secure a victory in game three of their series against the Washington Nationals to complete the sweep, a series victory still works just fine.

After taking two of three from the Washington Nationals over the weekend, which included sweeping a doubleheader on Saturday, the Pittsburgh Pirates will finish the month of April with the best record in the National League. The 20-9 Pirates are 1.5 games ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central, and are now 6-2-1 in series played.

Failing to secure the sweep was frustrating. Especially since the Nationals are one of the five worst teams in baseball and the Pirates won the first two games of the series. However, the way to be a good baseball team is just keep winning series. If you continue to win series and put together more winning weeks than losing ones, you'll be where you want to be in September. One month into the season, the Pirates have yet to have a losing week.

Next up for the Pittsburgh Pirates is a major test. Following an off day on Monday, the Pirates will begin a three-game series at Tropicana Field against the Tampa Bay Rays who own a MLB best 23-6 record. Before looking ahead to one of the most anticipated series of the MLB season thus far, let's take a look back at takeaways from Pittsburgh's series victory in Washington D.C.