diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/action/AbstractPausableIntegTestCase.java b/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/action/AbstractPausableIntegTestCase.java
index 7a5072120e5af..57cbee320ece0 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/action/AbstractPausableIntegTestCase.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/action/AbstractPausableIntegTestCase.java
@@ -90,10 +90,14 @@ public void setupIndex() throws IOException {
             .get();
 
         BulkRequestBuilder bulk = client().prepareBulk().setRefreshPolicy(WriteRequest.RefreshPolicy.IMMEDIATE);
-        for (int i = 0; i < numberOfDocs(); i++) {
-            bulk.add(prepareIndex("test").setId(Integer.toString(i)).setSource("foo", i));
+        try {
+            for (int i = 0; i < numberOfDocs(); i++) {
+                bulk.add(prepareIndex("test").setId(Integer.toString(i)).setSource("foo", i));
+            }
+            bulk.get();
+        } finally {
+            bulk.request().decRef();
         }
-        bulk.get();
         /*
          * forceMerge so we can be sure that we don't bump into tiny
          * segments that finish super quickly and cause us to report strange
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/action/CrossClustersCancellationIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/action/CrossClustersCancellationIT.java
index 8d7cbc5cd41be..5573755d9850a 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/action/CrossClustersCancellationIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/action/CrossClustersCancellationIT.java
@@ -151,10 +151,14 @@ private void createRemoteIndex(int numDocs) throws Exception {
         mapping.endObject();
         client(REMOTE_CLUSTER).admin().indices().prepareCreate("test").setMapping(mapping).get();
         BulkRequestBuilder bulk = client(REMOTE_CLUSTER).prepareBulk("test").setRefreshPolicy(WriteRequest.RefreshPolicy.IMMEDIATE);
-        for (int i = 0; i < numDocs; i++) {
-            bulk.add(new IndexRequest().source("foo", i));
+        try {
+            for (int i = 0; i < numDocs; i++) {
+                bulk.add(new IndexRequest().source("foo", i));
+            }
+            bulk.get();
+        } finally {
+            bulk.request().decRef();
         }
-        bulk.get();
     }
 
     public void testCancel() throws Exception {