diff --git a/pkg/pool/pool.go b/pkg/pool/pool.go
index f0bd580042f..cbd034e9e7c 100644
--- a/pkg/pool/pool.go
+++ b/pkg/pool/pool.go
@@ -112,12 +112,13 @@ func (p *BucketedBytes) Put(b *[]byte) {
 			continue
 		}
 		*b = (*b)[:0]
-		p.mtx.Lock()
-		defer p.mtx.Unlock()
 		p.buckets[i].Put(b)
 		break
 	}
 
+	p.mtx.Lock()
+	defer p.mtx.Unlock()
+
 	// We could assume here that our users will not make the slices larger
 	// but lets be on the safe side to avoid an underflow of p.usedTotal.
 	sz := uint64(cap(*b))