diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/RSRpcServices.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/RSRpcServices.java
index 26233b5100a..e1b8e3fc4c2 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/RSRpcServices.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/RSRpcServices.java
@@ -1866,7 +1866,7 @@ public class RSRpcServices implements HBaseRPCErrorHandler,
       if (request.hasCloseScanner()) {
         closeScanner = request.getCloseScanner();
       }
-      int rows = 1;
+      int rows = closeScanner ? 0 : 1;
       if (request.hasNumberOfRows()) {
         rows = request.getNumberOfRows();
       }