diff --git a/pkg/sql/rowflow/routers.go b/pkg/sql/rowflow/routers.go
index 297551431773..0a5ed95a6ec7 100644
--- a/pkg/sql/rowflow/routers.go
+++ b/pkg/sql/rowflow/routers.go
@@ -147,6 +147,22 @@ func (ro *routerOutput) addRowLocked(ctx context.Context, row rowenc.EncDatumRow
 
 func (ro *routerOutput) popRowsLocked(ctx context.Context) ([]rowenc.EncDatumRow, error) {
 	n := 0
+	// addToRowBufToPushFrom adds row to nth position in rowBufToPushFrom. row
+	// *must* be safe from further modifications.
+	addToRowBufToPushFrom := func(row rowenc.EncDatumRow) error {
+		// We're reusing the same rowBufToPushFrom slice, so we can only
+		// release the memory under the "old" row once we overwrite it in
+		// rowBufToPushFrom which we're about to do for rowBufToPushFrom[n].
+		prevSize := uintptr(0)
+		if ro.rowBufToPushFrom[n] != nil {
+			prevSize = ro.rowBufToPushFrom[n].Size()
+		}
+		if err := ro.rowBufToPushFromAcc.Grow(ctx, int64(row.Size()-prevSize)); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		ro.rowBufToPushFrom[n] = row
+		return nil
+	}
 	// First try to get rows from the row container.
 	if ro.mu.rowContainer.Len() > 0 {
 		if err := func() error {
@@ -162,18 +178,9 @@ func (ro *routerOutput) popRowsLocked(ctx context.Context) ([]rowenc.EncDatumRow
 				if err != nil {
 					return err
 				}
-				// We're reusing the same rowBufToPushFrom slice, so we can
-				// only release the memory under the "old" row once we
-				// overwrite it in rowBufToPushFrom which we're about to do for
-				// rowBufToPushFrom[n].
-				prevSize := uintptr(0)
-				if ro.rowBufToPushFrom[n] != nil {
-					prevSize = ro.rowBufToPushFrom[n].Size()
-				}
-				if err := ro.rowBufToPushFromAcc.Grow(ctx, int64(row.Size()-prevSize)); err != nil {
+				if err = addToRowBufToPushFrom(ro.rowAlloc.CopyRow(row)); err != nil {
 					return err
 				}
-				ro.rowBufToPushFrom[n] = ro.rowAlloc.CopyRow(row)
 				n++
 			}
 			return nil
@@ -184,7 +191,9 @@ func (ro *routerOutput) popRowsLocked(ctx context.Context) ([]rowenc.EncDatumRow
 
 	// If the row container is empty, get more rows from the row buffer.
 	for ; n < len(ro.rowBufToPushFrom) && ro.mu.rowBufLen > 0; n++ {
-		ro.rowBufToPushFrom[n] = ro.mu.rowBuf[ro.mu.rowBufLeft]
+		if err := addToRowBufToPushFrom(ro.mu.rowBuf[ro.mu.rowBufLeft]); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
 		ro.mu.rowBufLeft = (ro.mu.rowBufLeft + 1) % routerRowBufSize
 		ro.mu.rowBufLen--
 	}