diff --git a/src/wp-includes/query.php b/src/wp-includes/query.php
index 5ef51b50a1..4600dc93e8 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/query.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/query.php
@@ -2786,13 +2786,13 @@ class WP_Query {
 			if ( !$page )
 				$page = 1;
 
-			if ( empty($q['offset']) ) {
-				$pgstrt = ($page - 1) * $q['posts_per_page'] . ', ';
-			} else { // we're ignoring $page and using 'offset'
+			$pgstrt = ($page - 1) * $q['posts_per_page'];
+
+			if ( ! empty( $q['offset'] ) ) {
 				$q['offset'] = absint($q['offset']);
-				$pgstrt = $q['offset'] . ', ';
+				$pgstrt += $q['offset'];
 			}
-			$limits = 'LIMIT ' . $pgstrt . $q['posts_per_page'];
+			$limits = 'LIMIT ' . $pgstrt . ', ' . $q['posts_per_page'];
 		}
 
 		// Comments feeds
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/query/results.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/query/results.php
index 404aea6720..72ebeee786 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/query/results.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/query/results.php
@@ -278,9 +278,6 @@ class Tests_Query_Results extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 		$this->assertEquals( $expected, wp_list_pluck( $posts, 'post_name' ) );
 	}
 
-	/**
-	 * @ticket 18897
-	 */
 	function test_query_offset_and_paged() {
 		$posts = $this->q->query('paged=2&offset=3');