diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index b0c5e7bd..fa0cf274 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 ## python-markdown2 2.5.6 (not yet released)
 
+- [pull #729] Fix `tables` extra merging cells when a pipe directly follows a code span, as in compact rows like `|`-v`|verbose|`.
 - [pull #725] Fix `tables` extra dropping escaped pipes at the end of header and body rows.
 - [pull #687] Fix AssertionError hashing HTML blocks spread over multiple lines (#686)
 - [pull #692] Fix XSS from code spans in link titles (#691)
diff --git a/lib/markdown2.py b/lib/markdown2.py
index 5fa8cf58..9243bee8 100755
--- a/lib/markdown2.py
+++ b/lib/markdown2.py
@@ -4260,10 +4260,16 @@ def _split_row(row: str) -> list[str]:
         # An escaped final pipe belongs to the last cell, not the table border.
         if not row.endswith(r'\|'):
             row = row.removesuffix('|')
-        return [
-            re.sub(r'\\\|', '|', cell.strip())
-            for cell in re.split(r'(?<![\`\\])\|', row)
-        ]
+        cells, start = [], 0
+        for m in re.finditer(r'(?<!\\)\|', row):
+            # A pipe right after the backtick that opens a code span (`|`) stays in
+            # the cell; one right after a closing backtick is a cell border.
+            if m.start() and row[m.start() - 1] == '`' and row.count('`', 0, m.start()) % 2:
+                continue
+            cells.append(row[start:m.start()])
+            start = m.end()
+        cells.append(row[start:])
+        return [re.sub(r'\\\|', '|', cell.strip()) for cell in cells]
 
     def sub(self, match: re.Match[str]) -> str:
         head, underline, body = match.groups()
diff --git a/test/tm-cases/tables_code_span_adjacent_pipe.html b/test/tm-cases/tables_code_span_adjacent_pipe.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2fba4711
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tm-cases/tables_code_span_adjacent_pipe.html
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+<table>
+<thead>
+<tr>
+  <th>Flag</th>
+  <th>Meaning</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+  <td><code>-v</code></td>
+  <td>verbose</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><code>-q</code></td>
+  <td><code>quiet</code></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
diff --git a/test/tm-cases/tables_code_span_adjacent_pipe.opts b/test/tm-cases/tables_code_span_adjacent_pipe.opts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9625694e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tm-cases/tables_code_span_adjacent_pipe.opts
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"extras": ["tables"]}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/tm-cases/tables_code_span_adjacent_pipe.text b/test/tm-cases/tables_code_span_adjacent_pipe.text
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ea525d3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tm-cases/tables_code_span_adjacent_pipe.text
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+|Flag|Meaning|
+|-|-|
+|`-v`|verbose|
+|`-q`|`quiet`|