diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/ElasticsearchRestTemplate.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/ElasticsearchRestTemplate.java
index a2c261608..8a75fad9a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/ElasticsearchRestTemplate.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/ElasticsearchRestTemplate.java
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.search.aggregations.AbstractAggregationBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.builder.SearchSourceBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.fetch.subphase.highlight.HighlightBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.sort.FieldSortBuilder;
+import org.elasticsearch.search.sort.ScoreSortBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.sort.SortBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.sort.SortBuilders;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.sort.SortOrder;
@@ -93,7 +94,6 @@ import org.springframework.data.domain.Pageable;
 import org.springframework.data.domain.Sort;
 import org.springframework.data.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchException;
 import org.springframework.data.elasticsearch.annotations.Document;
-import org.springframework.data.elasticsearch.annotations.Mapping;
 import org.springframework.data.elasticsearch.annotations.Setting;
 import org.springframework.data.elasticsearch.core.aggregation.AggregatedPage;
 import org.springframework.data.elasticsearch.core.client.support.AliasData;
@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ public class ElasticsearchRestTemplate extends AbstractElasticsearchTemplate
 		implements ElasticsearchOperations, EsClient<RestHighLevelClient>, ApplicationContextAware {
 
 	private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ElasticsearchRestTemplate.class);
+	
 	private RestHighLevelClient client;
 	private ResultsMapper resultsMapper;
 	private String searchTimeout;
@@ -1353,19 +1354,34 @@ public class ElasticsearchRestTemplate extends AbstractElasticsearchTemplate
 
 	private void prepareSort(Query query, SearchSourceBuilder sourceBuilder,
 			@Nullable ElasticsearchPersistentEntity<?> entity) {
+
 		for (Sort.Order order : query.getSort()) {
-			ElasticsearchPersistentProperty property = entity != null //
-					? entity.getPersistentProperty(order.getProperty()) //
-					: null;
-			String fieldName = property != null ? property.getFieldName() : order.getProperty();
-			FieldSortBuilder sort = SortBuilders.fieldSort(fieldName)
-					.order(order.getDirection().isDescending() ? SortOrder.DESC : SortOrder.ASC);
-			if (order.getNullHandling() == Sort.NullHandling.NULLS_FIRST) {
-				sort.missing("_first");
-			} else if (order.getNullHandling() == Sort.NullHandling.NULLS_LAST) {
-				sort.missing("_last");
+			SortOrder sortOrder = order.getDirection().isDescending() ? SortOrder.DESC : SortOrder.ASC;
+
+			if (ScoreSortBuilder.NAME.equals(order.getProperty())) {
+				ScoreSortBuilder sort = SortBuilders //
+						.scoreSort() //
+						.order(sortOrder);
+
+				sourceBuilder.sort(sort);
+			} else {
+				ElasticsearchPersistentProperty property = (entity != null) //
+						? entity.getPersistentProperty(order.getProperty()) //
+						: null;
+				String fieldName = property != null ? property.getFieldName() : order.getProperty();
+
+				FieldSortBuilder sort = SortBuilders //
+						.fieldSort(fieldName) //
+						.order(sortOrder);
+
+				if (order.getNullHandling() == Sort.NullHandling.NULLS_FIRST) {
+					sort.missing("_first");
+				} else if (order.getNullHandling() == Sort.NullHandling.NULLS_LAST) {
+					sort.missing("_last");
+				}
+
+				sourceBuilder.sort(sort);
 			}
-			sourceBuilder.sort(sort);
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/ElasticsearchTemplate.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/ElasticsearchTemplate.java
index 86c4e8ce0..8fed9cd6a 100755
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/ElasticsearchTemplate.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/ElasticsearchTemplate.java
@@ -128,7 +128,6 @@ public class ElasticsearchTemplate extends AbstractElasticsearchTemplate impleme
 	private static final Logger QUERY_LOGGER = LoggerFactory
 			.getLogger("org.springframework.data.elasticsearch.core.QUERY");
 	private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ElasticsearchTemplate.class);
-	private static final String FIELD_SCORE = "_score";
 
 	private Client client;
 	private ResultsMapper resultsMapper;
@@ -1128,7 +1127,7 @@ public class ElasticsearchTemplate extends AbstractElasticsearchTemplate impleme
 		for (Sort.Order order : query.getSort()) {
 			SortOrder sortOrder = order.getDirection().isDescending() ? SortOrder.DESC : SortOrder.ASC;
 
-			if (FIELD_SCORE.equals(order.getProperty())) {
+			if (ScoreSortBuilder.NAME.equals(order.getProperty())) {
 				ScoreSortBuilder sort = SortBuilders //
 						.scoreSort() //
 						.order(sortOrder);
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/ElasticsearchTemplateTests.java b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/ElasticsearchTemplateTests.java
index 82947490d..d9421c514 100755
--- a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/ElasticsearchTemplateTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/ElasticsearchTemplateTests.java
@@ -786,26 +786,30 @@ public class ElasticsearchTemplateTests {
 		assertThat(sampleEntities.getContent().get(1).getMessage()).isEqualTo(sampleEntity2.getMessage());
 	}
 
-	@Test // DATAES-467
+	@Test // DATAES-467, DATAES-657
 	public void shouldSortResultsByScore() {
 
 		// given
 		List<SampleEntity> entities = Arrays.asList( //
-				SampleEntity.builder().id("1").message("abc").build(), //
-				SampleEntity.builder().id("2").message("def").build(), //
-				SampleEntity.builder().id("3").message("ghi").build());
+				SampleEntity.builder().id("1").message("green").build(), //
+				SampleEntity.builder().id("2").message("yellow green").build(), //
+				SampleEntity.builder().id("3").message("blue").build());
 
 		elasticsearchTemplate.bulkIndex(getIndexQueries(entities));
 		elasticsearchTemplate.refresh(SampleEntity.class);
 
-		SearchQuery searchQuery = new NativeSearchQueryBuilder().withQuery(matchAllQuery())
-				.withPageable(PageRequest.of(0, 10, Sort.by(Sort.Order.asc("_score")))).build();
+		SearchQuery searchQuery = new NativeSearchQueryBuilder() //
+				.withQuery(matchQuery("message", "green")) //
+				.withPageable(PageRequest.of(0, 10, Sort.by(Sort.Order.asc("_score")))) //
+				.build();
 
 		// when
-		Page<SampleEntity> sampleEntities = elasticsearchTemplate.queryForPage(searchQuery, SampleEntity.class);
+		Page<SampleEntity> page = elasticsearchTemplate.queryForPage(searchQuery, SampleEntity.class);
 
 		// then
-		assertThat(sampleEntities.getTotalElements()).isEqualTo(3);
+		assertThat(page.getTotalElements()).isEqualTo(2);
+		assertThat(page.getContent().get(0).getId()).isEqualTo("2");
+		assertThat(page.getContent().get(1).getId()).isEqualTo("1");
 	}
 
 	@Test