diff --git a/drainer/syncer.go b/drainer/syncer.go
index b7e6dd20f..a6cd2dbce 100644
--- a/drainer/syncer.go
+++ b/drainer/syncer.go
@@ -649,7 +649,9 @@ func skipDMLEvent(pv *pb.PrewriteValue, schema *Schema, filter *filter.Filter, b
 			mutation.DeletedRows = mutation.DeletedRows[0:filteredDeleteIdx]
 		}
 
-		muts = append(muts, mutation)
+		if len(mutation.Sequence) > 0 {
+			muts = append(muts, mutation)
+		}
 	}
 
 	pv.Mutations = muts
diff --git a/drainer/syncer_test.go b/drainer/syncer_test.go
index d5233fc86..efebf4249 100644
--- a/drainer/syncer_test.go
+++ b/drainer/syncer_test.go
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ func (s *syncerSuite) TestFilterTable(c *check.C) {
 	// append one mutation that will not be dropped
 	var keepID int64 = 2
 	schema.tableIDToName[keepID] = TableName{Schema: "keep", Table: "keep"}
-	pv.Mutations = append(pv.Mutations, pb.TableMutation{TableId: keepID})
+	pv.Mutations = append(pv.Mutations, pb.TableMutation{TableId: keepID, Sequence: []pb.MutationType{pb.MutationType_Insert}})
 
 	ignore, err = skipDMLEvent(pv, schema, filter, nil)
 	c.Assert(err, check.IsNil)