diff --git a/Lib/http/client.py b/Lib/http/client.py
index f9b74e49e5a..612fa3752c8 100644
--- a/Lib/http/client.py
+++ b/Lib/http/client.py
@@ -488,6 +488,7 @@ class HTTPResponse(io.RawIOBase):
             return b""
 
         if self._method == "HEAD":
+            self.close()
             return b""
 
         if self.chunked: