diff --git a/include/sys/vdev.h b/include/sys/vdev.h
index f49086a4776c..5b742e11577f 100644
--- a/include/sys/vdev.h
+++ b/include/sys/vdev.h
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ extern void vdev_dtl_reassess(vdev_t *vd, uint64_t txg, uint64_t scrub_txg,
 extern boolean_t vdev_dtl_required(vdev_t *vd);
 extern boolean_t vdev_resilver_needed(vdev_t *vd,
     uint64_t *minp, uint64_t *maxp);
+extern int vdev_pending_queued(vdev_t *vd);
 
 extern void vdev_hold(vdev_t *);
 extern void vdev_rele(vdev_t *);
diff --git a/module/zfs/vdev.c b/module/zfs/vdev.c
index c44e4f67f068..797f8fe1bcc6 100644
--- a/module/zfs/vdev.c
+++ b/module/zfs/vdev.c
@@ -1948,6 +1948,20 @@ vdev_resilver_needed(vdev_t *vd, uint64_t *minp, uint64_t *maxp)
 	return (needed);
 }
 
+int
+vdev_pending_queued(vdev_t *vd)
+{
+	int pending;
+
+	vdev_queue_t *vq = &vd->vdev_queue;
+
+	mutex_enter(&vq->vq_lock);
+	pending = avl_numnodes(&vq->vq_pending_tree);
+	mutex_exit(&vq->vq_lock);
+
+	return pending;
+}
+
 void
 vdev_load(vdev_t *vd)
 {
diff --git a/module/zfs/vdev_mirror.c b/module/zfs/vdev_mirror.c
index a2671ca81a37..03005c0fa4f7 100644
--- a/module/zfs/vdev_mirror.c
+++ b/module/zfs/vdev_mirror.c
@@ -221,7 +221,9 @@ vdev_mirror_child_select(zio_t *zio)
 	mirror_map_t *mm = zio->io_vsd;
 	mirror_child_t *mc;
 	uint64_t txg = zio->io_txg;
-	int i, c;
+	int pending_lowest_child = -1;
+	int pending_lowest_count = INT_MAX;
+	int i, c, pending;
 
 	ASSERT(zio->io_bp == NULL || BP_PHYSICAL_BIRTH(zio->io_bp) == txg);
 
@@ -243,12 +245,28 @@ vdev_mirror_child_select(zio_t *zio)
 			continue;
 		}
 		if (!vdev_dtl_contains(mc->mc_vd, DTL_MISSING, txg, 1))
-			return (c);
+		{
+			pending = vdev_pending_queued(mc->mc_vd);
+			if (pending == 0)
+				return (c);
+			if (pending < pending_lowest_count) {
+				pending_lowest_count = pending;
+				pending_lowest_child = c;
+			}
+			continue;
+		}
 		mc->mc_error = ESTALE;
 		mc->mc_skipped = 1;
 		mc->mc_speculative = 1;
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * See if we found multiple devices with pending io's
+	 * and return the child with smallest queue.
+	 */
+	if ( pending_lowest_child != -1 )
+		return (pending_lowest_child);
+
 	/*
 	 * Every device is either missing or has this txg in its DTL.
 	 * Look for any child we haven't already tried before giving up.