diff --git a/go/vt/vtgate/engine/send.go b/go/vt/vtgate/engine/send.go
index 31c9e9e0eb0..6867ff543af 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtgate/engine/send.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtgate/engine/send.go
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ type Send struct {
 	// IsDML specifies how to deal with autocommit behaviour
 	IsDML bool
 
+	IsDDL bool
+
 	// SingleShardOnly specifies that the query must be send to only single shard
 	SingleShardOnly bool
 
@@ -94,6 +96,10 @@ func (s *Send) TryExecute(ctx context.Context, vcursor VCursor, bindVars map[str
 	ctx, cancelFunc := addQueryTimeout(ctx, vcursor, s.QueryTimeout)
 	defer cancelFunc()
 
+	if err := s.commitIfDDL(ctx, vcursor); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
 	rss, err := s.checkAndReturnShards(ctx, vcursor)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -158,6 +164,10 @@ func copyBindVars(in map[string]*querypb.BindVariable) map[string]*querypb.BindV
 
 // TryStreamExecute implements Primitive interface
 func (s *Send) TryStreamExecute(ctx context.Context, vcursor VCursor, bindVars map[string]*querypb.BindVariable, wantfields bool, callback func(*sqltypes.Result) error) error {
+	if err := s.commitIfDDL(ctx, vcursor); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	rss, err := s.checkAndReturnShards(ctx, vcursor)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -204,3 +214,11 @@ func (s *Send) description() PrimitiveDescription {
 		Other:             other,
 	}
 }
+
+// commitIfDDL commits any open transaction before executing the ddl query.
+func (s *Send) commitIfDDL(ctx context.Context, vcursor VCursor) error {
+	if s.IsDDL {
+		return vcursor.Session().Commit(ctx)
+	}
+	return nil
+}