diff --git a/tsdb/wlog/watcher.go b/tsdb/wlog/watcher.go
index 9a02f3de4..48a55a104 100644
--- a/tsdb/wlog/watcher.go
+++ b/tsdb/wlog/watcher.go
@@ -689,10 +689,11 @@ func (w *Watcher) readCheckpoint(checkpointDir string, readFn segmentReadFn) err
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("unable to open segment: %w", err)
 		}
-		defer sr.Close()
 
 		r := NewLiveReader(w.logger, w.readerMetrics, sr)
-		if err := readFn(w, r, index, false); err != nil && !errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
+		err = readFn(w, r, index, false)
+		sr.Close()
+		if err != nil && !errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
 			return fmt.Errorf("readSegment: %w", err)
 		}
 
diff --git a/tsdb/wlog/watcher_test.go b/tsdb/wlog/watcher_test.go
index 70c84b4ff..dc0314e8c 100644
--- a/tsdb/wlog/watcher_test.go
+++ b/tsdb/wlog/watcher_test.go
@@ -230,11 +230,11 @@ func TestTailSamples(t *testing.T) {
 			for i := first; i <= last; i++ {
 				segment, err := OpenReadSegment(SegmentName(watcher.walDir, i))
 				require.NoError(t, err)
-				defer segment.Close()
 
 				reader := NewLiveReader(nil, NewLiveReaderMetrics(nil), segment)
 				// Use tail true so we can ensure we got the right number of samples.
 				watcher.readSegment(reader, i, true)
+				require.NoError(t, segment.Close())
 			}
 
 			expectedSeries := seriesCount