diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/strategicpatch/patch.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/strategicpatch/patch.go
index 43c6df13e99..3fe5907cf80 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/strategicpatch/patch.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/strategicpatch/patch.go
@@ -515,6 +515,9 @@ func normalizeSliceOrder(toSort, order []interface{}, mergeKey string, kind refl
 			return nil, err
 		}
 		toSort, toDelete, err = extractToDeleteItems(toSort)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
 	}
 
 	sort.SliceStable(toSort, func(i, j int) bool {