CINCINNATI — An assignment in the lesson plans for the Cardinals’ second semester syllabus to prepare and identify players for next season and beyond is to urge them to strive to be aggressive, to stride to make a play and determine what’s possible, not settle for what’s in reach.

That push does sometimes require a net to still win.

“That’s needed,” manager Oli Marmol said late Friday night in his office. “I want these guys to stay aggressive. If they’re going to error on one side, be on the aggressive side, so we can talk about it and grow from it rather than being timid. But it takes other guys picking you up when that happens. We did that.”

The Cardinals squandered three leads but seized the most important one – the final one – in the 10th inning and fended off the Cincinnati Reds, 7

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