diff --git a/src/bin/pg_basebackup/streamutil.c b/src/bin/pg_basebackup/streamutil.c
index 1b9005722a..410116492e 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_basebackup/streamutil.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_basebackup/streamutil.c
@@ -313,9 +313,12 @@ RetrieveWalSegSize(PGconn *conn)
 	if (sscanf(PQgetvalue(res, 0, 0), "%d%s", &xlog_val, xlog_unit) != 2)
 	{
 		pg_log_error("WAL segment size could not be parsed");
+		PQclear(res);
 		return false;
 	}
 
+	PQclear(res);
+
 	/* set the multiplier based on unit to convert xlog_val to bytes */
 	if (strcmp(xlog_unit, "MB") == 0)
 		multiplier = 1024 * 1024;
@@ -334,7 +337,6 @@ RetrieveWalSegSize(PGconn *conn)
 		return false;
 	}
 
-	PQclear(res);
 	return true;
 }