diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/OfflineSorter.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/OfflineSorter.java
index b28752a1045..0bd306633dc 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/OfflineSorter.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/OfflineSorter.java
@@ -273,6 +273,9 @@ public class OfflineSorter {
       while (true) {
         Partition part = readPartition(is);
         if (part.count == 0) {
+          if (partitionsInRAM != null) {
+            partitionsInRAM.release();
+          }
           assert part.exhausted;
           break;
         }
@@ -317,16 +320,7 @@ public class OfflineSorter {
           result = out.getName();
         }
       } else {
-        try {
-          result = segments.get(0).get().fileName;
-        } catch (InterruptedException ie) {
-          throw new ThreadInterruptedException(ie);
-        } catch (ExecutionException ee) {
-          IOUtils.reThrow(ee.getCause());
-
-          // dead code but javac disagrees:
-          result = null;
-        }
+        result = getPartition(segments.get(0)).fileName;
       }
 
       // We should be explicitly removing all intermediate files ourselves unless there is an exception:
@@ -406,52 +400,59 @@ public class OfflineSorter {
     if (partitionsInRAM != null) {
       partitionsInRAM.acquire();
     }
-    long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
-    SortableBytesRefArray buffer;
-    boolean exhausted = false;
-    int count;
-    if (valueLength != -1) {
-      // fixed length case
-      buffer = new FixedLengthBytesRefArray(valueLength);
-      int limit = ramBufferSize.bytes / valueLength;
-      for(int i=0;i<limit;i++) {
-        BytesRef item = null;
-        try {
-          item = reader.next();
-        } catch (Throwable t) {
-          verifyChecksum(t, reader);
+    boolean success = false;
+    try {
+      long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
+      SortableBytesRefArray buffer;
+      boolean exhausted = false;
+      int count;
+      if (valueLength != -1) {
+        // fixed length case
+        buffer = new FixedLengthBytesRefArray(valueLength);
+        int limit = ramBufferSize.bytes / valueLength;
+        for(int i=0;i<limit;i++) {
+          BytesRef item = null;
+          try {
+            item = reader.next();
+          } catch (Throwable t) {
+            verifyChecksum(t, reader);
+          }
+          if (item == null) {
+            exhausted = true;
+            break;
+          }
+          buffer.append(item);
         }
-        if (item == null) {
-          exhausted = true;
-          break;
+      } else {
+        Counter bufferBytesUsed = Counter.newCounter();
+        buffer = new BytesRefArray(bufferBytesUsed);
+        while (true) {
+          BytesRef item = null;
+          try {
+            item = reader.next();
+          } catch (Throwable t) {
+            verifyChecksum(t, reader);
+          }
+          if (item == null) {
+            exhausted = true;
+            break;
+          }
+          buffer.append(item);
+          // Account for the created objects.
+          // (buffer slots do not account to buffer size.) 
+          if (bufferBytesUsed.get() > ramBufferSize.bytes) {
+            break;
+          }
         }
-        buffer.append(item);
       }
-    } else {
-      Counter bufferBytesUsed = Counter.newCounter();
-      buffer = new BytesRefArray(bufferBytesUsed);
-      while (true) {
-        BytesRef item = null;
-        try {
-          item = reader.next();
-        } catch (Throwable t) {
-          verifyChecksum(t, reader);
-        }
-        if (item == null) {
-          exhausted = true;
-          break;
-        }
-        buffer.append(item);
-        // Account for the created objects.
-        // (buffer slots do not account to buffer size.) 
-        if (bufferBytesUsed.get() > ramBufferSize.bytes) {
-          break;
-        }
+      sortInfo.readTimeMS += System.currentTimeMillis() - start;
+      success = true;
+      return new Partition(buffer, exhausted);
+    } finally {
+      if (success == false && partitionsInRAM != null) {
+        partitionsInRAM.release();
       }
     }
-    sortInfo.readTimeMS += System.currentTimeMillis() - start;
-
-    return new Partition(buffer, exhausted);
   }
 
   static class FileAndTop {
@@ -616,15 +617,28 @@ public class OfflineSorter {
 
         CodecUtil.writeFooter(out.out);
         part.buffer.clear();
+
+        return new Partition(tempFile.getName(), part.count);
+      } finally {
         if (partitionsInRAM != null) {
           partitionsInRAM.release();
         }
-
-        return new Partition(tempFile.getName(), part.count);
       }
     }
   }
 
+  private Partition getPartition(Future<Partition> future) throws IOException {
+    try {
+      return future.get();
+    } catch (InterruptedException ie) {
+      throw new ThreadInterruptedException(ie);
+    } catch (ExecutionException ee) {
+      IOUtils.reThrow(ee.getCause());
+      // oh so soon to go away:
+      return null;
+    }
+  }
+
   /** Merges multiple file-based partitions to a single on-disk partition. */
   private class MergePartitionsTask implements Callable<Partition> {
     private final Directory dir;
@@ -636,10 +650,10 @@ public class OfflineSorter {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public Partition call() throws IOException, InterruptedException, ExecutionException {
+    public Partition call() throws IOException {
       long totalCount = 0;
       for (Future<Partition> segment : segmentsToMerge) {
-        totalCount += segment.get().count;
+        totalCount += getPartition(segment).count;
       }
 
       PriorityQueue<FileAndTop> queue = new PriorityQueue<FileAndTop>(segmentsToMerge.size()) {
@@ -660,7 +674,7 @@ public class OfflineSorter {
       
         // Open streams and read the top for each file
         for (int i = 0; i < segmentsToMerge.size(); i++) {
-          Partition segment = segmentsToMerge.get(i).get();
+          Partition segment = getPartition(segmentsToMerge.get(i));
           streams[i] = getReader(dir.openChecksumInput(segment.fileName, IOContext.READONCE), segment.fileName);
               
           BytesRef item = null;
@@ -705,7 +719,7 @@ public class OfflineSorter {
       }
       List<String> toDelete = new ArrayList<>();
       for (Future<Partition> segment : segmentsToMerge) {
-        toDelete.add(segment.get().fileName);
+        toDelete.add(getPartition(segment).fileName);
       }
       IOUtils.deleteFiles(dir, toDelete);