diff --git a/src/backend/storage/smgr/smgr.c b/src/backend/storage/smgr/smgr.c
index 465e3356c53..bfdaac4721d 100644
--- a/src/backend/storage/smgr/smgr.c
+++ b/src/backend/storage/smgr/smgr.c
@@ -231,12 +231,12 @@ smgropen(RelFileLocator rlocator, ProcNumber backend)
 			reln->smgr_cached_nblocks[i] = InvalidBlockNumber;
 		reln->smgr_which = 0;	/* we only have md.c at present */
 
-		/* implementation-specific initialization */
-		smgrsw[reln->smgr_which].smgr_open(reln);
-
 		/* it is not pinned yet */
 		reln->pincount = 0;
 		dlist_push_tail(&unpinned_relns, &reln->node);
+
+		/* implementation-specific initialization */
+		smgrsw[reln->smgr_which].smgr_open(reln);
 	}
 
 	return reln;