DENVER -- Milwaukee's Chris Carter set the stage for a final-game showdown with Colorado's Nolan Arenado for the National League home run title with a game-winning shot Saturday night.

With two outs in the 10th inning, Carter belted his 41st home run, giving the Brewers a 4-3 win over the Rockies. Carter tied Arenado for the NL lead in homers when he drove a 3-2 slider from closer Adam Ottavino (1-3) into the left-field stands. With the ball in flight, a knowing Ottavino hung his head.

Ottavino struck out Domingo Santana on a 3-2 slider to open the 10th and then struck out Ryan Braun on a 2-2 slider, giving Carter an idea of what to expect when the count ran full.

"It's definitely hard to sit slider there," Carter said. "He has 96 (mph) in his pocket. You got to respect that a little bit. But still, you know that it's probably going to be a slider coming in. It was a strike that started at me and ended up in the zone."

Ottavino said: "I think I threw it where I wanted. He hadn't given me any indication he was going to hit it, so I wasn't too careful there, trying to throw a strike. I regret it now, but in the moment I was pretty comfortable throwing it."

Arenado and Washington's Bryce Harper tied for the NL lead in homers last year with 42. Carter, who has reached a career-high this season, said: "I'm not going to change anything. I'm just going to keep doing the same thing, get a pitch up in the zone I can get the barrel to. I'm going to really try not to think about it too much."

Tyler Thornburg (7-5) blew a save in the ninth but got the win. Jacob Barnes gave up a one-out single to Carlos Gonzalez and threw a wild pitch in the process of striking out David Dahl. Barnes earned his first save in the big leagues by getting Jordan Patterson to fly to right.

Milwaukee's Wily Peralta capped his comeback from a two-month demotion to Triple-A with a superb outing. He worked six scoreless innings and allowed five singles with no walks and three strikeouts. In 10 starts since returning to the Brewers after being demoted to Triple-A Colorado Springs for two months, Peralta has a 2.92 ERA.

"That was a heck of an effort from Wily," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "His fastball was down all night. It had good sink on it all night. Put up six scoreless innings here against a lineup that scores a lot of runs...it's a great way to finish for Wily. I'm proud of him."

The Rockies got everything they could have hoped for from Jeff Hoffman in his spot start. In five innings, Hoffman gave up two hits and one run with no walks and seven strikeouts while pitching in place of Tyler Anderson, who was scratched from the start with what he termed a "dead arm."

Hoffman, making his first start since Sept. 14, retired the first 11 Brewers batters he faced before Ryan Braun grounded a first-pitch single up the middle with two outs in the fourth. Hoffman's only walk came to Hernan Perez to open the fifth. He took third when shortstop Cristhian Adames fielded a potential double-play grounder and threw wide of second base. Perez scored on a swinging bunt as Martin Maldonaldo tapped a ball that Hoffman had no play on after fielding it near the third-base line.

Both runners moved into a scoring position as Hoffman struck out pinch hitter Scooter Gennett, but threw a wild pitch on the final strike. Hoffman then struck out Peralta, intentionally walked Jonathan Villar and struck out Domingo Santana with the bases loaded to end his outing.

Jordan Lyles gave up a run-scoring double to Braun in the eighth. Santana was cut down at the plate on a 7-6-2 relay with Braun taking third on the throw home. Lyles then walked Carter and gave up a run-scoring single to Perez that made it 3-0.

Tony Wolters greeted Corey Knebel in the eighth with a leadoff triple that kicked off the base of the wall in right-center. Pat Valaika followed with a run-scoring single.

With one out, second baseman Scooter Gennett bobbled Daniel Descalso's grounder. With two outs, Gonzalez poked a run-scoring single to left-center, cutting Milwaukee's lead to 3-2. Knebel got Dahl to ground into an inning-ending force play. Gonzalez's hit gave him 100 RBI. He had last driven in a run Sept. 18.

"Last year I had 97, but it's always that three-digit number that makes it really special," Gonzalez said. "It's hard to get 100 when you have a guy in front of you (Arenado) that hits a zillion home runs and RBIs."

Patterson led off the Rockies' ninth with his third hit, a first-pitch single off closer Thornburg. Pinch hitter Stephen Cardullo hit a liner that deflected off the glove of third baseman Yadiel Rivera to shortstop Orlando Arcia, who threw out Cardullo. Thornburg's wild pitch moved Patterson to third, and pinch hitter Tom Murphy doubled him home. After Valaika took a third strike, Thornburg intentionally walked Charlie Blackmon and struck out Descalso to send the game to extra innings.

NOTES: Rockies 1B Jordan Patterson made his second major league start and first at first base. He appeared in eight previous games and started in left field on Sept. 21. ... Brewers RHP Tyler Cravy will start Sunday in what will be a bullpen game for Milwaukee... Brewers 1B Chris Carter and Rockies 3B Nolan Arenado are tied for the National League lead with 159 games played.