CHICAGO — Austin Wells’ hand was injured earlier this week, but his arm is fine. The Yankees catcher threw out two runners attempting to steal second base Saturday in relief of Clarke Schmidt in a 2-0 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Wells, who sat out Tuesday and Wednesday’s games nursing a contusion to his right hand after being hit by a 95 mph fastball on Monday, struck out Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong in consecutive innings with strong throws to second.

“I feel like over the last few years my throwing has gotten better throughout the year as the season has gone on,” Wells said. “So I started a little earlier [this year] so I could feel a little better from the start.” One of Wells’ biggest minuses when he played in the lower leagues was his weak throwing arm. But he worked to help change that, and in his first season in the big leagues, he threw out 17 of 69 hitters who attempted to steal bases, better than league average. Wells also went 1/3 at bat with one walk and scored the first run of the day for the Yankees But Schmidt cherishes his arm.