diff --git a/api/filters/replacement/replacement.go b/api/filters/replacement/replacement.go
index 0cf269419f2..f4627ddbcb8 100644
--- a/api/filters/replacement/replacement.go
+++ b/api/filters/replacement/replacement.go
@@ -174,7 +174,12 @@ func setTargetValue(options *types.FieldOptions, t *yaml.RNode, value *yaml.RNod
 		value.YNode().Value = strings.Join(tv, options.Delimiter)
 	}
 
-	t.SetYNode(value.YNode())
+	if t.YNode().Kind == yaml.ScalarNode {
+		// For scalar, only copy the value (leave any type intact to auto-convert int->string or string->int)
+		t.YNode().Value = value.YNode().Value
+	} else {
+		t.SetYNode(value.YNode())
+	}
 
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/api/filters/replacement/replacement_test.go b/api/filters/replacement/replacement_test.go
index e5077b93f69..ad277c14252 100644
--- a/api/filters/replacement/replacement_test.go
+++ b/api/filters/replacement/replacement_test.go
@@ -205,13 +205,13 @@ spec:
         command: ["printenv"]
         args:
         - example.com
-        - 8080
+        - "8080"
       - name: busybox
         image: busybox:latest
         args:
         - echo
         - example.com
-        - 8080
+        - "8080"
 ---
 apiVersion: v1
 kind: ConfigMap
@@ -2011,6 +2011,216 @@ spec:
         name: nginx-tagged
       - image: postgres:1.8.0
         name: postgresdb
+`,
+		},
+		"string source -> integer target": {
+			input: `apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: config
+data:
+  PORT: "8080"
+---
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Pod
+metadata:
+  name: pod
+spec:
+  containers:
+  - image: busybox
+    name: myapp-container
+    ports:
+    - containerPort: 80
+`,
+			replacements: `replacements:
+- source:
+    kind: ConfigMap
+    name: config
+    fieldPath: data.PORT
+  targets:
+  - select:
+      kind: Pod
+    fieldPaths:
+    - spec.containers.0.ports.0.containerPort
+`,
+			expected: `apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: config
+data:
+  PORT: "8080"
+---
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Pod
+metadata:
+  name: pod
+spec:
+  containers:
+  - image: busybox
+    name: myapp-container
+    ports:
+    - containerPort: 8080
+`,
+		},
+		// TODO: This is inconsistent with expectations; creating a numerical string would be
+		// expected, unless we had knowledge of the intended type of the field to be
+		// created.
+		"numerical string source -> integer creation": {
+			input: `apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: config
+data:
+  PORT: "8080"
+---
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Pod
+metadata:
+  name: pod
+spec:
+  containers:
+  - image: busybox
+    name: myapp-container
+    ports:
+    - protocol: TCP
+`,
+			replacements: `replacements:
+- source:
+    kind: ConfigMap
+    name: config
+    fieldPath: data.PORT
+  targets:
+  - select:
+      kind: Pod
+    fieldPaths:
+    - spec.containers.0.ports.0.containerPort
+    - spec.containers.0.ports.0.name
+    options:
+      create: true
+`,
+			expected: `apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: config
+data:
+  PORT: "8080"
+---
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Pod
+metadata:
+  name: pod
+spec:
+  containers:
+  - image: busybox
+    name: myapp-container
+    ports:
+    - protocol: TCP
+      containerPort: 8080
+      name: 8080
+`,
+		},
+		"integer source -> string target": {
+			input: `apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: config
+data:
+  PORT: "8080"
+---
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Pod
+metadata:
+  name: pod
+spec:
+  containers:
+  - image: busybox
+    name: myapp-container
+    ports:
+    - containerPort: 80
+`,
+			replacements: `replacements:
+- source:
+    kind: Pod
+    name: pod
+    fieldPath: spec.containers.0.ports.0.containerPort
+  targets:
+  - select:
+      kind: ConfigMap
+    fieldPaths:
+    - data.PORT
+`,
+			expected: `apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: config
+data:
+  PORT: "80"
+---
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Pod
+metadata:
+  name: pod
+spec:
+  containers:
+  - image: busybox
+    name: myapp-container
+    ports:
+    - containerPort: 80
+`,
+		},
+		// TODO: This result is expected, but we should create a string and not an
+		// integer if we could know that the target type should be one. As a result,
+		// the actual ConfigMap produces here cannot be applied.
+		"integer source -> integer creation": {
+			input: `apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: config
+data:
+  FOO: "Bar"
+---
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Pod
+metadata:
+  name: pod
+spec:
+  containers:
+  - image: busybox
+    name: myapp-container
+    ports:
+    - containerPort: 80
+`,
+			replacements: `replacements:
+- source:
+    kind: Pod
+    name: pod
+    fieldPath: spec.containers.0.ports.0.containerPort
+  targets:
+  - select:
+      kind: ConfigMap
+    fieldPaths:
+    - data.PORT
+    options:
+      create: true
+`,
+			expected: `apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: config
+data:
+  FOO: "Bar"
+  PORT: 80
+---
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Pod
+metadata:
+  name: pod
+spec:
+  containers:
+  - image: busybox
+    name: myapp-container
+    ports:
+    - containerPort: 80
 `,
 		},
 	}