diff --git a/google-cloud-bigquery/lib/google/cloud/bigquery/query_job.rb b/google-cloud-bigquery/lib/google/cloud/bigquery/query_job.rb
index 01f37dd7af56..6ee838f0a7b3 100644
--- a/google-cloud-bigquery/lib/google/cloud/bigquery/query_job.rb
+++ b/google-cloud-bigquery/lib/google/cloud/bigquery/query_job.rb
@@ -748,11 +748,10 @@ def wait_until_done!
         def data token: nil, max: nil, start: nil
           return nil unless done?
           return Data.from_gapi_json({ rows: [] }, nil, @gapi, service) if dryrun?
-          if ddl? || dml?
+          if ddl? || dml? || !ensure_schema!
             data_hash = { totalRows: nil, rows: [] }
             return Data.from_gapi_json data_hash, nil, @gapi, service
           end
-          ensure_schema!
 
           data_hash = service.list_tabledata destination_table_dataset_id,
                                              destination_table_table_id,
@@ -1791,10 +1790,10 @@ def self.from_gapi gapi
         protected
 
         def ensure_schema!
-          return unless destination_schema.nil?
+          return true unless destination_schema.nil?
 
           query_results_gapi = service.job_query_results job_id, location: location, max: 0
-          # raise "unable to retrieve schema" if query_results_gapi.schema.nil?
+          return false if query_results_gapi.schema.nil?
           @destination_schema_gapi = query_results_gapi.schema
         end
 
diff --git a/google-cloud-bigquery/test/google/cloud/bigquery/query_job_data_test.rb b/google-cloud-bigquery/test/google/cloud/bigquery/query_job_data_test.rb
index 45bfb2ac4d46..65715324b970 100644
--- a/google-cloud-bigquery/test/google/cloud/bigquery/query_job_data_test.rb
+++ b/google-cloud-bigquery/test/google/cloud/bigquery/query_job_data_test.rb
@@ -287,6 +287,32 @@
     _(data.class).must_equal Google::Cloud::Bigquery::Data
   end
 
+  it "does not call list_table_data is no schema present" do
+    mock = Minitest::Mock.new
+    bigquery.service.mocked_service = mock
+    query_hash =  {
+      "kind" => "bigquery#getQueryResultsResponse",
+      "etag" => "etag1234567890",
+      "jobReference" => {
+        "projectId" => "my-project",
+        "jobId" => "job9876543210"
+      },
+      "pageToken" => "token1234567890",
+      "totalRows" => 3,
+      "totalBytesProcessed" => "456789", # String per google/google-api-ruby-client#439
+      "jobComplete" => true,
+      "cacheHit" => false
+    }
+    mock.expect :get_job_query_results,
+                Google::Apis::BigqueryV2::QueryResponse.from_json(query_hash.to_json),
+                [project, job.job_id], location: "US", max_results: 0, page_token: nil, start_index: nil, timeout_ms: nil
+
+    data = job.data start: 25
+    mock.verify
+
+    _(data.class).must_equal Google::Cloud::Bigquery::Data
+  end
+
   def query_job_gapi
     json = query_job_resp_json("SELECT name, age, score, active FROM `users`")
     Google::Apis::BigqueryV2::Job.from_json json