Rays vs. Guardians, by the numbers: Cleveland on to ALDS after Oscar Gonzalez HR in 15th ends Game 2

The Rays and Guardians didn't come into their AL Wild Card series scoring a lot of runs. Cleveland was 15th in MLB in the regular season and Tampa Bay was 21st. In fact, they entered as two of the three lowest-scoring teams in the playoffs, with the Mariners breaking them up at 18th.

They both rode their pitching during the season: the Rays were sixth in MLB in fewest runs allowed and the Guardians eighth. Both teams lived up to their reputations in the wild-card round, with the hitters combining for four runs, all on home runs, in a Guardians two-game sweep.

Neither team could score in a marathon Game 2 on Saturday until Oscar Gonzalez hit a walk-off solo home run off former Cleveland pitcher Corey Kluber in the bottom of the 15th inning.

GUARDIANS WALK IT OFF 🔥

5 hours and 15 innings later, Cleveland clinches a spot in the ALDS with this series winning HR from Oscar Gonzalez👏

📹 pic.twitter.com/17edm1wfdu

— 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬 (@sportingnews) October 8, 2022

The 1-0 win propels the Guardians into the ALDS vs. the Yankees. The Rays are headed to the offseason with questions about their offense.

MORE: Bracket, dates, times, TV channels for every series in the 2022 MLB playoffs

The Sporting News looks at some of the wildest stats from the Guardians' walk-off win.

14 1/2

That's how many scoreless innings were played before Gonzalez put the game's only run on the board.

It was the longest an MLB postseason game had gone scoreless, surpassing Game 1 of the 2020 National League Wild Card Series between the Braves and Reds by two full innings. That game was won by the Braves in the bottom of the 13th when Freddie Freeman drove in Cristian Pache.

It wasn't pretty, and there weren't a ton of scoring opportunities for either team. A combination of dominant pitching and questionable situational hitting helped keep this game at 0-0 for as long as it did.

16

Each team used eight pitchers Saturday, for 16 total.

Triston McKenzie started for the Guardians while Tyler Glasnow was on the bump for the Rays. McKenzie went the first six innings, allowing two hits and two walks while racking up eight strikeouts. Glasnow went five innings, giving up two hits and no walks. It was Glasnow's third start since returning from Tommy John surgery.

With each team carrying 12 pitchers on its series roster, both the Rays and Guardians used 75 percent of their postseason staffs in this game. A look at every pitcher who went Saturday.

Rays pitchers

* Faced two batters in the sixth inning.

Guardians pitchers

MORE: How the Cardinals gifted the Phillies a crazy ninth-inning comeback

39

There were a playoff-record 39 combined strikeouts in the game, with Guardians pitchers recording 20 and Rays pitchers 19. McKenzie (eight) and Hentges (six) racked up 14 of Cleveland's Ks, while Glasnow fanned five. 

Both teams seemed to struggle to find an approach that worked for them at the plate. Tampa Bay's Jose Siri and Cleveland's Andres Gimenez both struck out five times.

5

This one is rounded up. After a 2-hour, 17-minute Game 1, Game 2 took 4 hours, 57 minutes.

In other words, Rays vs. Guardians was responsible for both the longest and shortest games of early portion of the postseason. Both times look difficult to beat.

Prolonged innings helped to drive up the time of this game. The Guardians loaded the bases in the sixth and the Rays threatened with runners at the corners in the top of the 15th.

34

The teams combined for 34 scoreless half innings going back to Game 1, the longest scoring drought in MLB postseason history.

The previous record was 28 between the Braves and Mets in the 1999 NLCS.

Between the 7th inning of Game 1 to Oscar González's walk-off today, the Guardians and Rays combined to throw 34 straight scoreless half-innings.

That's the longest streak in a postseason series, passing 28 straight in games 3 & 4 of the Braves & Mets NLCS in 1999. pic.twitter.com/uW9DghWtWG

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 8, 2022

All of the runs in this series came on homers and there weren't many scoring threats from teams that are known for manufacturing runs. 

The good news for the Guardians is that the series is over and they can turn their attention to the Yankees. Game 2 shouldn't affect their bullpen long term: Hentges helped out with his three innings and the next series doesn't begin until Tuesday.

But the bats will to need to produce against New York. If they can't, it could be a short series.