DENVER -- Carlos Gonzalez drew upon minimal but rich history Saturday night when he hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning to give the Colorado Rockies an 8-6 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Gonzalez's 38th homer of the season came against reliever Yimi Garcia. In their one previous matchup on May 14 at Los Angeles, Gonzalez hit a three-run homer in the ninth off Garcia to give the Rockies a 5-4 victory.

This time, Gonzalez stepped in against Garcia (3-4) after second baseman DJ LeMahieu opened the ninth by grounding a single up the middle and drove Garcia's 3-1 fastball over the wall in center field.

"I was just trying to enjoy the moment, just trying to get a good pitch," Gonzalez said. "We never have that opportunity very often. I was just waiting for the right pitch to drive and it showed up in a 3-1 count.

"I think the biggest key was not chasing those fastballs up early in the count. That's what he was trying to (make me) do. So I forced him to throw me around the zone with a 3-1 count."

Gonzalez's homer gave the Rockies their eighth walk-off win of the season and kept the Dodgers' magic number at two to clinch the National League West.

"We don't want to see them celebrate on our field," said Nolan Arenado, who hit a grand slam in the first. "We don't want to get pushed around. We'd rather see them go celebrate somewhere else."

Third baseman Nolan Arenado, who has hit 21 homers on the road, and Gonzalez are trying to give the Rockies multiple players with at least 40 homers for the first time since 1997 when Larry Walker (49), Andres Galarraga (41) and Vinny Castilla (40) reached 40.

Arenado's grand slam was the third of his career and first since May 3, 2014, against the New York Mets. He is the seventh player in Rockies franchise history to hit 40 home runs in a season, something that has been done 11 times but not since Todd Helton hit a franchise-record tying 49 in 2001.

"It's pretty cool. It's pretty special. I'm happy to get it out of the way, to be honest with you,” said Arenado, who is tied with Toronto's Josh Donaldson for the major league lead with 121 RBIs. "This year, I've been staying on the ball better. I don't think about home runs. I just think about hitting the ball hard."

After Arenado's homer against starter Brett Anderson, the Rockies tacked on single runs in the second on LeMahieu's single and in the third on a double by first baseman Justin Morneau, who went 4-for-4.

That gave beleaguered starter Kyle Kendrick a 6-2 lead that he was unable to hold. He gave up a two-run homer to right fielder Andre Ethier in the second, the major-league leading 33rd homer Kendrick has allowed in 136 1/3 innings.

Kendrick surrendered three hits to start the sixth, with runs scoring on second baseman Chase Utley's single and third baseman Justin Turner's double. Brooks Brown came on and yielded a first-pitch double to right fielder Andre Ethier that tied the score at 6.

Kendrick's overall ERA rose to 6.54, and his ERA at Coors Field swelled to 7.62. In four starts this month since right shoulder inflammation caused him to miss all of August, Kendrick is 2-2 with a 7.04 ERA.

Kendrick has pitched five or fewer innings in nine consecutive starts, the longest such streak by a Rockies starter since Alex White had nine in 2013.

Four Rockies relievers followed Kendrick with one scoreless inning apiece. The last was Justin Miller (3-2), who pitched a perfect inning for the second straight game.

The Rockies are 35-45 and will play their final home game Sunday, needing a win avoid matching their worst home record in a full season. They went 35-46 at Coors Field in 2012.

The Dodgers have their sights set on a much higher goal. If they win and the San Francisco Giants lose at Oakland, the Dodgers will claim the NL West for the third straight year and reach the postseason for the third year in a row for the first time in franchise history. If not, there's always Monday when the Dodgers open a series at San Francisco.

"We want to win our way in," Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis said. "Hopefully, tomorrow we can come out and win and Oakland can take a game from them, and we can celebrate tomorrow. If not, we can do it on their field, which would be sweet as well."

NOTES: Dodgers 1B Adrian Gonzalez was scratched from the lineup because of a pinched nerve in his lower back. He'll get two days off since he wasn't scheduled to play Sunday. ... Dodgers OF Kike Hernandez (left hamstring strain) will join the team Monday at San Francisco and be activated. He has been on the disabled list since Aug. 31. ... Rockies RHP Miguel Castro, who last pitched Sept. 14, is done for the season because of lower back stiffness. ... Rockies SS Jose Reyes did not play for the third straight games due to left Achilles soreness. ... Rockies 2B DJ LeMahieu returned to the lineup and went 3-for-5 with one RBI. He has had lingering soreness in his left shoulder, left Thursday's game after aggravating it on a swing and didn't play Friday.