diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/TransactionRunnerImpl.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/TransactionRunnerImpl.java
index febd34f4728..438f158195f 100644
--- a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/TransactionRunnerImpl.java
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/TransactionRunnerImpl.java
@@ -484,13 +484,13 @@ public long executeUpdate(Statement statement) {
       try {
         com.google.spanner.v1.ResultSet resultSet =
             rpc.executeQuery(builder.build(), session.getOptions());
+        if (resultSet.getMetadata().hasTransaction()) {
+          onTransactionMetadata(resultSet.getMetadata().getTransaction());
+        }
         if (!resultSet.hasStats()) {
           throw new IllegalArgumentException(
               "DML response missing stats possibly due to non-DML statement as input");
         }
-        if (resultSet.getMetadata().hasTransaction()) {
-          onTransactionMetadata(resultSet.getMetadata().getTransaction());
-        }
         // For standard DML, using the exact row count.
         return resultSet.getStats().getRowCountExact();
       } catch (SpannerException e) {