diff --git a/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/FieldSortIT.java b/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/FieldSortIT.java
index 86134d7250b5e..fae3dc1efcd60 100644
--- a/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/FieldSortIT.java
+++ b/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/FieldSortIT.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 import org.apache.lucene.util.TestUtil;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.UnicodeUtil;
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchException;
+import org.elasticsearch.ExceptionsHelper;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.alias.Alias;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.BulkRequestBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.index.IndexRequestBuilder;
@@ -64,6 +65,7 @@
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertFirstHit;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertHitCount;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertNoFailures;
+import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertOrderedSearchHits;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertSearchResponse;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertSecondHit;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.hasId;
@@ -1935,4 +1937,50 @@ public void testLongSortOptimizationCorrectResults() {
         }
     }
 
+    public void testIssue73146() throws Exception {
+        assertAcked(client().admin().indices().prepareCreate("index1")
+            .setMapping("date", "type=keyword", "num_field", "type=integer", "str_field", "type=keyword").get());
+        assertAcked(client().admin().indices().prepareCreate("index2")
+            .setMapping("date", "type=date", "num_field", "type=integer", "str_field", "type=keyword").get());
+        ensureGreen();
+
+        indexRandom(true,
+            client().prepareIndex("index1").setId("1").setSource("date", "2021-05-17", "num_field", 42, "str_field", "aaa"),
+            client().prepareIndex("index2").setId("2").setSource("date", "2021-05-18", "num_field", 43, "str_field", "aaa")
+        );
+
+        try {
+            client().prepareSearch("index*")
+                .addSort("date", SortOrder.DESC)
+                .get();
+            fail("should fail because of conflicting sort types");
+        } catch (SearchPhaseExecutionException e) {
+            assertThat(
+                ExceptionsHelper.stackTrace(e),
+                e.getCause().toString(),
+                containsString("Can't do sort across indices, as a field has [raw] type")
+            );
+        }
+
+        try {
+            client().prepareSearch("index*")
+                .addSort("str_field", SortOrder.DESC)
+                .addSort("date", SortOrder.DESC)
+                .get();
+            fail("should fail because of conflicting sort types");
+        } catch (SearchPhaseExecutionException e) {
+            assertThat(
+                ExceptionsHelper.stackTrace(e),
+                e.getCause().toString(),
+                containsString("Can't do sort across indices, as a field has [raw] type")
+            );
+        }
+
+        final SearchResponse response = client().prepareSearch("index*")
+            .addSort("str_field", SortOrder.DESC)
+            .addSort("num_field", SortOrder.DESC)
+            .get();
+        assertOrderedSearchHits(response, "2", "1");
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchPhaseController.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchPhaseController.java
index 17aa182be56bb..e3cc2381ca4b0 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchPhaseController.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchPhaseController.java
@@ -488,23 +488,25 @@ private static InternalAggregations reduceAggs(InternalAggregation.ReduceContext
      * //TODO: instead of throwing error, find a way to sort long and unsigned_long together
      */
     private static void validateMergeSortValueFormats(Collection<? extends SearchPhaseResult> queryResults) {
-        boolean[] ulFormats = null;
+        String[] ulFormats = null;
         boolean firstResult = true;
         for (SearchPhaseResult entry : queryResults) {
             DocValueFormat[] formats = entry.queryResult().sortValueFormats();
             if (formats == null) return;
             if (firstResult) {
                 firstResult = false;
-                ulFormats = new boolean[formats.length];
+                ulFormats = new String[formats.length];
                 for (int i = 0; i < formats.length; i++) {
-                    ulFormats[i] = formats[i] == DocValueFormat.UNSIGNED_LONG_SHIFTED ? true : false;
+                    ulFormats[i] = formats[i].getWriteableName();
                 }
             } else {
                 for (int i = 0; i < formats.length; i++) {
                     // if the format is unsigned_long in one shard, and something different in another shard
-                    if (ulFormats[i] ^ (formats[i] == DocValueFormat.UNSIGNED_LONG_SHIFTED)) {
-                        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Can't do sort across indices, as a field has [unsigned_long] type " +
-                            "in one index, and different type in another index!");
+                    if (ulFormats[i].equals(formats[i].getWriteableName()) == false) {
+                        throw new IllegalArgumentException(String.format(
+                            "Can't do sort across indices, as a field has [%s] type in one index, and different type in another index!",
+                            ulFormats[i]
+                        ));
                     }
                 }
             }