"some words" | stats dc(host) as host_count by zone, region
My end goal is be able to create an alert if "host_count < 2" in any row. I will achieve that by adding " | where host_count < 2" to the query and alerting if the search is non-empty.
Try the timechart command. It will automatically fill in zeroes for missing rows.
"some words" | timechart dc(host) as host_count by zone, region