Baseball has all kinds of unwritten rules. Don’t show up the pitcher by standing at the plate and admiring your longball. Control your histrionics on the mound after fanning a batter. Don’t steal bases when your team has a sizable lead.

How about bowling over a catcher in a spring training game? That’s what happened Saturday, when Rays prospect Elliot Johnson lowered his shoulder and flattened the Yankees’ Francisco Cervelli in a play at the plate. Cervelli, a 22-year-old catching prospect, held on to the ball but suffered a fractured wrist that will sideline for at least several weeks.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi, known for his play-hard approach as both a player and manager, was irked by Johnson’s body block in a meaningless game.

“I think it’s uncalled for,” Girardi said after the Rays’ 4-1 win. “Spring training, you’re going to get people hurt, and that’s what we got, we got Cervelli hurt.”

Johnson defended his decision to run into Cervelli, though he understood Girardi’s concern and regretted that Cervelli was injured.

“His left foot was right there blocking the plate,” Johnson explained. “The time that I had there, the instinct was slide and be out or hit him and see if I can pop the ball loose.”

If a baserunner is expected to treat plays at the plate differently in spring training games, how about the catcher? Should Cervelli be blocking the dish? In the heat of the moment, which player should make the move to avoid an injury?

It’s hard to fault Johnson, who is trying to impress Rays manager Joe Maddon and his coaches in the short time he has in major league camp. He faced a split-second decision when he saw Cervelli with his left foot blocking him off.

A hook slide to the back side of the plate probably would have scored the run, but it didn’t look that way until the incoming throw forced Cervelli to reach toward the first-base line. By then, Johnson most likely had committed to running into the New York catcher. A last-second decision to slide instead is the kind of move that puts the baserunner at risk to serious injury.

Don Zimmer, a Rays administrator who is close friends with Girardi from their days in the Yankees organization, was surprised to find New York’s skipper was upset with Johnson. Zimmer assumed Girardi was angry about nothing more than the injury itself.

The bottom line is that the play put both players at risk. Zimmer’s response to Girardi’s anger makes that point.

“[Cervelli] blocked the plate,” Zimmer said. “What happens if our man slides in with the plate being blocked and breaks his leg?”