Entity Framework Core 2.0 mapping int to SQL Server smallint throws exception on query

I mapped an int property to smallint in SQL Server. When I query the database, I get the following exception:

InvalidOperationException: An exception occurred while reading a database value for property 'Tag.Count'. The expected type was 'System.Int32' but the actual value was of type 'System.Int16'

I want to do it this way because if I use a short on the Entity, I end up having to write extra code to cast short to int.

Snapshot of relevant code:

public class Tag
{
    public int Count { get; set; }

    //Other properties
}

//In DbContext
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder builder)
{
    builder.Entity<Tag>().Property(m => m.Count).HasColumnType("smallint");
}

//query
var tags = await context.Tags.ToArrayAsync();